VG 53 
.W45 


1980 


v*O v 


o > 

P 




!» ^ VSSKr* ^ ’Vu * >° V» 

**i.o® °<t, **M* £° ^ ***°° ^ O 

> ^> V ,’*«* C\ *9 • ±^L?+ N> V • *••* c\. 


* w 

* Cp^f* 



0 <^rv A * 
; ^ <? • 

* 0^ o 

V ^ 0 




A iP 


• * Jp ts *V77T** A % •'?.?• 4 ,G^ ^b '*'77^* A 

fCr .••££♦„ \ A 4 .•‘7>„ \ t o'- .•^L’% **o, A 4, . 

r'Sll&t* 'ok "’W /‘fc§ra* *ov*' .‘| 


- '^3<mw' a 0 7#. «5 °^. vSs|yi5v . ^ 0-7 V- -5 

v^>V° .. V '^* </ ,. V^->° .... ^ * 

<* CV aV » «) * 4 * °* C 1 . «V * liU'ios. * 


a: \./ . 
sS *• 



% <& ♦ 

• iCT* / J? ^Y V@||£3* ^ V o 

* VV <A *••'*• A 0 V V V77?* a # <> • * 

*L*+%S* *£ C u ^ A 'Ljr?*?* 






y °*. ^-’*° <V* 

/ *:*•# c> aO ••vjv 



° C$ * 

t* °bv * 

c5>^rv :^Ejjj^; VA.. * 

,* *y ^4. •A3®j?v v ■%> *. , wv «y -"fc. VftOKS*.* <! 

* A” %«. *'••’' ,A <7 *••!* .6* 7s. *<7V«* A 

0 0 <<r Si&<(i?7?>* %r 0 ^ ^ ♦* 

->* 0 ^ »•' 





J*. *• <’* •$?" ■^» , '» 

C7 J.9 ..•!£'■♦ -?• 



* 0 * ’ ’ f° *t> 

■V& -a.v .»v v c> *0 ivv % %> 

«. %> n & .' £Ste% \ -i> ,'AV/k- A 4, ,* 

*7,*/V « J^\2!Ss//h O ' r ~ £> 





J j>G- 


a\^ ^v* ‘ aCt 4 '^VVV* A »•. * * -0^ 

a^C^* % (P . 1 ^ 1 ' °o 4 # * 1 ^:, =V c 0 ^.. 
^ \»< u .'A*. - ^ svs^.:. 7 *. ,4 C '*• 


■*6 








* v V +'*z* \ a 0 ** V;> ^ v^ . ’ * o 

^ %/ ^Va\ ^ ,** t. ^ ^v-r- t 



♦ ^ ' j ^7 

<, ^ 7 * a g^ % a 

S* sJtffihi* 0° °o 4$* 9 


4 <^y/ujp ' * <K* -^1I\v^xx v .y- ^ <zyym\?J ** v & • % 

° 0 ‘l^r* 4 a0 ° ^ ^ Sa Q o % *: 

. %■ J- ,vv % % °* A 4 ,,...% "’ 0 ^° ..., V 

&\ %> ^ ^ ^ .» V A 4 ’ .*>SBC-. < 



» c> 'f k - 

'«*»* 4 G \d 


#» * 





O' 




4.°^ * 

* t °\^,.. \,*' • ■' * y. • • y%‘ * * ° . 

.-«,-/ </\ '-.IK** ** v \ **JW** ^*v 

» *o • k * <0^ vD */**^\* A ^ , « A /-i' ♦ 

■\ 4 c ° \ <?* -^c *°* 

4? V. *. 

^ # 




oV 

• a 10 ** V’SHf^' 4 °-^. •.eis>.* 4 o 

> h %‘^y .. v^V vwv 

/ 4**°* CV .0 • VV t A 4«*«^ *&k J0T «• 

•isSto 4* •’afef- ** 4 V 4* .* 

• RS&W/A • >V • ^55^» ^ V • £\\2SJ/A o 

°a ^TTT* A <> 'p.»* «Cr ^b vf!v A <*, 'o 

°o ,-^ % *• VI!* %> c°* %> a* *+ 

* iMM *a/ :^K*. ^ 




5» & 

^<p 




'K 


o V 


V 4 0 ^ : 

► r\ 'Ot. * 

CV & + 

Jy 

9 ,-V'. <?• 

* - A «, 

•*^4 




.’^VV- *<#>. s 


r * J- 0 ^ *j 

* o’ V*... 

<y .lv-, «> 


i> '••*** <0* ^ ‘-TT^'A 

V C°^ °o A ,.• 1 " 
:. oV^CV- *•_<■£ a 





y .‘/ac\'. ^ 4 ■ /-*< 

: y4 : 

* C? ^rv ■* 

,o* •j^'V 

r 0 •j<5SSw4 # * v> 

^•o« :^Br. r 
: jo* -» 

* * w//W» 

cj*. • <i.' O 

V *1*®- ^ 4? • 

«* • fSSMzW/A ° °?ft • 



.(V . • 



O. A ^ 'o. * * ,6^ ♦-TVi• a A # 

• ^ a n +>. a .v^8HV» ^ A •V3S^r ^ 


o v 


V ^° ^ : 

Vo 9 V .T * s v 

W ' J 


^0 




b V 


■ V 


?>• 4°^K -j 

♦ A • 




^0 

a ^ #f ^° ; ^ #; ^r» ^ 

f • c\ sy V 1 v » 1 

°. v^r • 

y> ^ vHO rak * v 

> 'o,»* 4 ,0^ ^b ’'♦rJvf*' A <^ * r °. ** 4 V •- 

q' o 0 * * ♦ ^o A • v 10 ♦ ^ ol* * 0 * • ♦ ^o 

- *bv* ++$ 

/ ,»•«. c> *0 V % »V % V v % 4 * • •* ^cv. *0 V *v 

’-*■■*••• V <y ti . > .>Va“ ^ 

; w '§mM\ 





♦y^’ a' _ '■<.•'?."•* a «!*"_... <j 






rhc 

VOLUNTEERS 



THE 

STORY OF 
THE U.S. COAST 
GUARD AUXILIARY 





























THE 

tbk 


VOLUNTEERS 


THE STORY OF 

THE 


U. S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY 


\JGS3 
■ WV-5- 
l^go 


Copyright (c) 1986 

COAST GUARD AUXILIARY NATIONAL BOARD, INC. 


All rights reserved. No portion of this 
publication can be copied or otherwise used 
without the written permission of the 

Coast Guard Auxiliary National Board, Inc. 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
Printed at no cost to the Government 


The views and opinions expressed herein are 
those of the author and are not necessarily 
those of the U. S. Coast Guard. 


Published by the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
National Board, Inc. 




y. 



MEMORIAL 


PNACO Ellsworth A. Weinberg gave 30 of 
his 70 odd years dedicated to the United 
States Coast Guard Auxiliary and its 
purposes. He served in many elected and 
appointed offices, reaching the pinacle of 
’’National Commodore” during the years 
1964 - 1966. 

From 1 January 1985 until his death on 10 
December 1986, Commodore Ellsworth 
Weinberg held the office of Department 
Chief - Legal Affairs. It was during this 
time that he completed ’’The Volunteers”. 

Ellsworth Weinberg will be greatly missed 
by all who knew him. This book is published 
and dedicated to the memory of this 
outstanding Coast Guard Auxiliarist. 


> 

5 




i 





HIS FRIENDS AND FELLOW AUXILIARISTS 











































CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION i 

PREFACE iii 

CHAPTER ONE 

Creation of The Volunteers 1 

CHAPTER TWO 

The War Years 9 

CHAPTER THREE 

The Cockleshell Fleet 21 

CHAPTER FOUR 

Peace Returns 59 

CHAPTER FIVE 

Organization 69 

EPILOGUE 77 

APPENDIX 79 

Circle of Communication 
(The Heart of an Organization) I 

Table of Organization III 

Act of Congress May 16, 1939 V 

Act of Congress Feb. 19, 1949 

(As Amended) XI 


Pictures of National Commodores 


XV 










INTRODUCTION 


The name of this book, "THE VOLUNTEERS", 
has been selected because it best represents 
the spirit of the men and women who, through¬ 
out the history of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, have unselfishly served our country 
in both peace and war, giving not only of their 
time, talents and money, but also, in some 
instances, their lives, for the benefit of the 
citizens of this great country of ours. 

"THE VOLUNTEERS" is not intended as a 
detailed history of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. Rather, it is intended as an over¬ 
view, from its early beginnings, to the organi¬ 
zation as it exists today. 

The members have volunteered to serve, in the 
true spirit of those who founded this country. 
Safety on the waters along our coast lines has 
been assisted by those who voluntarily have lit 
fires along our shorelines and walked with 
lamps by night and watched by day, to warn 
vessels approaching our coast of impending 
dangers. They put to sea through pounding 
surf in small boats, propelled by oars, to 
rescue persons from stricken vessels, which 
went aground along the rocky shores of our 
Northeastern seaboard. 

Today, the President of the United States has 
called upon all citizens to volunteer in this 
same tradition, to assist in many areas, in 
which the Government now provides services 
at high costs. 


1 


The men and women of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary have been so serving since its crea¬ 
tion, by an act of the Congress on June 23, 
1939, and continue to do so to this day. 

Although the number of registered pleasure 
craft have increased year by year, the number 
of boating accidents, as well as deaths result¬ 
ing therefrom, have been decreasing. The 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
are rightfully proud of their many contribu¬ 
tions to these results through their Safety 
Patrols, Search and Rescue, Courtesy Marine 
Examinations of Vessels, Public Education, 
continuing Member Training and the other 
authorized programs of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. All of these programs have served, 
in a very cost effective manner, to reduce the 
burden upon the U. S. Coast Guard, in the field 
of boating safety, saving much cost to the U. 
S. Government, and its citizens. This has 
released U. S. Coast Guard Cutters, and the 
personnel of the U. S. Coast Guard for other 
important duties. 

This book will serve as a Commendation for 
the many thousands of men and women who 
have served throughout the intervening 46 
years, and those who will serve in the years to 
come, in the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 



Chris G. Lagen 

National Commodore 

United States Coast Guard Auxiliary 


li 



PREFACE 


The material in this book was obtained from 
many sources. The authors files, public 
records, material in the public domain, inter¬ 
views with individuals, and other sources; all 
of which are deemed to be reliable. 

Thus the facts herein presented are considered 
to be authentic and faithfully reflect the 
events and facts as herein recorded. 

The underlying effort in writing this book was 
not so much to write a history of persons, 
places and events, as to present the story of 
an organization, which, in many respects, is 
not only unique in character, but perhaps a 
forerunner of other organizations yet to come 
into being. 

The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is an 
instrumentality of the United States Govern¬ 
ment, an integral part of the Federal 
Government; composed of civilian volunteers, 
who give freely of their time, talent and 
means, in the pursuit of its statutory mandate, 
as set forth in the Federal Statutes creating 
the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

While every effort has been made to present 
all data in an accurate manner, and to include 
all major historical information, any material 
supplied to the author, which is deemed to be 
corrective, or of major importance, will 
appear in any future additions of the book. 


It would be difficult to give due credit to each 
of the many sources of information for the 
material contained herein. Rather, the author 
would give credit to those who had the 
foresight to create this organization. The 
Congress for enacting the necessary 
legislation, and to the men and women who 
built the organization, brick upon brick; 
thankful for the privilege of being permitted 
to add to the total, at least one brick, as a 
member, during the past twenty-nine years. 



U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
1986 


If many faultes in this book you fynde, 

Yet think not the correctors blynde; 

If Agros heere hymselfe had beene 

He should prchance not all have seene. 

Richard Shacklock....l565 


IV 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


CHAPTER ONE 

CREATION OF THE VOLUNTEERS 


I remember, when in graduate school, asking a 
professor, who was rather short of 
temperament and long in the pursuit of the 
truths expounded by the law, the question, 
"how does one begin to write a contract?" I 
expected that I would learn from his long 
experience and wisdom, something about the 
means of researching the facts, studying the 
law involved, determining the desires of the 
parties, determining those things which should 
be included and those which should be 
excluded, in the sometime strange, (to the 
layman), but powerful language of the law. 

Instead, he answered my question in three 
words -"At the beginning!" 

So it is, we will begin at the beginning. 

Rear Admiral Thomas Molloy, USCG, was 
addressing a group in New York City on 
January 18, 1939 on the theme of small boat 
safety. During the previous year the U. S. 
Coast Guard, as the agency of the United 
States charged by Congress with maintaining 
pleasure craft safety standards, had reported 
14,000 assistance calls from the pleasure 
boating public and 8,600 rescues, the highest 
in the history of the Coast Guard. At that 
time there was a total of 300,000 registered 
motorboats and 4,000 sailing vessels. 


1 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


In 1983 there were an estimated total of 
9,165,000 registered motorboats and auxiliary 
yachts, and a total of 85,796 calls for 
assistance. The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
responded to nineteen (19%) percent, of the 
total calls for assistance. This reflects the 
growing role of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. In the future, as the need 

increases, it is expected that the percentage 
of the assistance, by the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, to all type of motorboats, sailing 
vessels, and auxiliary yachts, will greatly 
increase. The members of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary are trained, prepared, and 
ready. THE VOLUNTEERS wait to be called 
upon! 

The total number of persons assisted, on our 
waterways, including lives saved by members 
of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, in 1983, 
was 45,260. In this effort, THE VOLUNTEERS 
gave 24,123 hours of unpaid time, using 
member owned vessels and aircraft, to assist 
these persons, and save lives. The lives saved 
are beyond value. The total property value of 
vessels assisted was $33,056,000 in 1983 
($192,809,000 in 1985). 

This does not include the many additional 
thousands of unpaid hours devoted to Public 
Boating Education, Courtesy Marine 
Examination of vessels, time spent in 
undergoing advanced training, to better 
prepare themselves to assist the public in 
times of emergencies, and in the many other 
programs of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 
Yes, these are THE VOLUNTEERS. 

The members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary performed nineteen (19%) percent of 


2 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


the total workload of the U. S. Coast Guard in 
on the water patrols and search and rescue 
operations in 1983, and this is expected to 
increase with the growing demand upon the U. 
S. Coast Guard in other areas of activity. The 
number of calls for assistance from the 
boating public continues. 

How many assistance calls were prevented, 
because of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s 
Public Boating Education Programs, the 
Courtesy Examination Program, Safety 
Patrols, and other programs, cannot be 
determined. However, the declining rate of 
assistance calls, and boating related accidents, 
over the last several years, attest to the 
effectiveness of such programs. 

Admiral Molloy, in his address in New York, 
citing the growing number of assistance calls 
from motorboats and auxiliary yachts, stated 
there was a real need for safe seamanship. 
Also, recalling the distinguished service of 
civilian boating groups in World War I, he told 
his audience: ’’Should a similar crisis arise in 
our national life again, your boats and your 
experience will be needed.” 

It was out of these two concens: the increasing 
calls for assistance from small boats and the 
growing crises of the clouds of war hanging 
over Europe, that the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary was born, out of an Act of the 
Congress, as a nonmilitary Reserve. 

Also, on the Pacific side of our country, the 
same thoughts were occurring. LCDR Malcom 
Stuart Boylan, met with LCDR C. W. 
Thomas, on the Coast Guard Cutter Hermes in 


3 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


Los Angles Harbor. From this meeting came 
the concept of a Reserve. 

Shortly thereafter, LCDR Malcom Stuart 
Boylan cruised to Catalina Island with LT F. 
C. Pollard, then serving under LCDR Thomas. 

Later, LCDR Malcom Stuart Boylan wrote to 

LT F. C. Pollard, ".the thought has come 

to me that the Coast Guard, alone of all the 

armed services, has no organized reserve.A 

Coast Guard Reserve would be an excellent 
thing to perpetuate its traditions, preserve its 
entity and, more particulary, to place at the 
disposal of Coast Guard officers, auxiliary 
flotillas of small craft, for the frequent 
emergencies incident to your prescribed 
twenty-two (defined duties), and countless 
unexpected duties." 

This letter became known as the "Founders 
Letter”, which crystallized the suggestions for 
a Reserve. 

Admiral Russell R. Waesche, then 
Commandant of the U. S. Coast Guard, 
became the principle moving force to 
undertake the formation of such a Reserve. A 
Coast Guard Reserve bill was drafted and 
forwarded to Congress early in 1939, with the 
support of the Treasury and Commerce 
Departments. At that time, the U. S. Coast 
Guard served under the Treasury Department, 
in time of peace. 

In support of the new bill, Acting Secretary of 
the Treasury, Steven P. Gibbons, told the 
House of Representatives, on April 24, 1939, 
that "The Coast Guard had felt for some time 
a definite need for such an organization to 


4 





THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


assist in the performance of its duties... 
....such as the conduct of regattas and marine 
parades...which might require facilities beyond 
those available to the regular Coast Guard." 
Also, he stated, "The proposed organization 
would...promote closer compliance with the 
laws." Secretary Gibbons stressed the 

Treasury T s opinion that the Reserve was fully 
justified. 

Admiral Russell R. Waesche, the Commandant 
of the Coast Guard, in support of the new bill, 
in speaking to the House of Representatives, 
cited its purposes as "Safety at sea and upon 
the navigable waters of the United States, and 
particularly the promotion of efficiency in the 
operation of motorboats and yachts." He 
stated, "The idea is to form a Coast Guard 
Reserve whereby...owners of boats and yachts 
will enroll. The establishment of a reserve 
means the enlarging of the facilities of the 
Coast Guard, without any expense whatever to 
the Federal Government." 

On June 23, 1939, Congress created the Coast 
Guard Reserve (53 Federal Statutes 854), with 
the stated aims: 

"To assist the Coast Guard. 

"To promote efficiency in the operation of 
motorboats and yachts. 

"To foster a wider knowledge of and better 
compliance with the laws, rules and 
regulations governing the operation of 
motorboats. 

"To promote safety and effect rescues on and 
over the high seas and navigable waters. 


5 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


"To facilitate other operations of the Coast 
Guard." 

Large numbers of United States boatowners 
became members of this nonmilitary Reserve, 
enrolling in the USCG Reserve instruction 
programs, written by the U. S. Coast Guard. 

Soon, Coast Guard Headquarters established 
advanced member training programs, for 
continued training of the members. 

The "Miracle" of Dunkirk, in which 900 
pleasure boat owners and operators and other 
small craft, all civilians, dramatically assisted 
the rescue of the remnants of the British 
Expeditionary Forces from certain 
destruction, became a signal to their 
American counterparts of their value in time 
of war, as well as peace. 

The growing dangers of war alerted the Coast 
Guard to the need for a military Reserve, as 
well as the existing nonmilitary Reserve. 

On February 19, 1941 Congress amended the 
original Reserve Act, as the "Coast Guard 
Auxiliary and Reserve Act", creating a new 
military Reserve and renaming the original 
Reserve, the "Coast Guard Auxiliary." 
(Federal Statutes, Title 14, Part II). 

The original purposes of the nonmilitary 
Reserve, were retained. (Federal Statutes, 
Title 14, Section 822). 

Even before the passage of the revised Act of 
1941, in a little publicized hearing the 
Commandant, Admiral Russel R. Waesche, had 
told a Senate Sub-Committee on Commerce 


6 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


that the U. S. Coast Guard’s urgent need for 
more patrol boats, stating, "we need 
immediately about 270 yachts and motorboats, 
about 40 feet to 90 feet, brought into active 
service with average crews of from five to six 
persons. Both boats and personnel would be 
enrolled as temporary members of the newly 
created military Reserve.” 

Once again, the members of the renamed ”U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary responded, and 
enlisted both their boats and themselves in the 
Temporary Reserve. Thus, the members of 
the civilian Reserve, renamed the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary, became members of the 
military Reserve, as the clouds of war became 
ever darker and closer to the shores of our 
country. 

At the same time members of the renamed U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary continued their 
peace time efforts with a growing number of 
members. 

Instances of rescues made by the members of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary were 
increasing rapidly, and the reports thereof 
were being recorded. Most Coast Guard 
Districts were ringed with flotillas. 

Also, members were receiving instruction in 
first aid, gunnery, navigation, seamanship, 
signaling, radio communication, practice in 
night maneuvers, evacuation drills, and 
lifesaving; in addition to the studies and 
examinations required to become members and 
undertake the advanced member training, 
previously established. 


7 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter One 


Thus the members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Civilian Reserve, renamed the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary, and many new members of 
the military Temporary Reserves, were 
prepared when the news of the tragedy of 
Pearl Harbor spread throughout America. 
More than most civilians, THE VOLUNTEERS, 
were ready for the struggle to preserve the 
freedoms for which the Minute Men of another 
generation of American civilians had fought 
and won. 


8 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


CHAPTER TWO 


THE WAR YEARS 


The harbor was full of ships, lying hull to hull, 
their masts were like a forest across the 
fifteen-mile stretch of Delaware Bay, between 
Cape May, New Jersey, and Cape Henlopen, 
Delaware. All hemmed in by the wolf packs of 
German submarines that lay await outside the 
harbors, ready to strike at any vessel that 
ventured to sea. 

The ships were oil tankers, so filled with oil 
their decks were almost awash, little colliers 
bound from Norfolk, their holds full of the soft 
coal for the war plants of the East; deep water 
freighters carrying rubber from the Amazon 
jungles, quinine from Ecuador, tin from 
Bolivia, and coastal freighters carrying needed 
supplies to fuel the factories turning out 
needed war materials. 

All had two things in common. They carried 
the raw materials needed to manufacture the 
supplies not only for our own Army and Navy, 
but also for those of our Allies, who were 
sorely pressed on every side. They were held 
at bay by the enemy U-boats lurking outside, 
ready to sink any vessel which ventured forth. 

Russia was besieged along an eighteen hundred 
mile front, and depended upon American 
industry for much of the vast supply of 
military equipment needed to face the well 


9 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


equipped Nazi forces, which were pressing 
forward on all fronts. 


The British army in Egypt, facing Marshal 
Erwin Rommel’s veteran armored forces, was 
also in immediate need of all types of 
equipment and supplies; the planes, tanks and 
guns, which could only come from America to 
turn back Rommel’s thrust against the Suez 
Canal and Cairo. 

Half way around the world, China was fighting 
with few modern weapons, against a well 
equipped enemy. 

All were forced to depend upon the United 
States as the ’’ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY’’. 

Yet much of the material needed to fuel the 
factories in this ’’Arsenal of Democracy”, lay 
in the holds of ships in harbors and ports 
throughout the East Coast and the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

Even in the Gulf of Mexico, few skippers dared 
leave port, for some of the submarines had 
managed to slip by our air and naval bases in 
the West Indies, and had sunk our shipping at 
the mouth of the Mississippi River, and 
elsewhere in the gulf. 

This was indeed a dark hour in the history of 
American shipping. The American Flag, which 
had proudly flown from the masts of United 
States vessels in every port of the world, was 
held at bay, and even denying us the use of our 
own waters. 


10 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


With our coast lines unprotected, the 
submarines operated at will, often surfacing 
and sinking unprotected merchant vessels with 
their deck guns, rather than using their supply 
of torpedoes. Their guns were more powerful, 
and of longer range, than those of the few 
patrol vessels then available. 

Spies and saboteurs were active along the 
entire Atlantic coast. Radios ashore were 
sending information, regarding shipping, to the 
submarines lying just off our coast, and some 
of the submarines came in close enough to 
receive signals by blinker light. 

Eight highly trained Nazi experts in the art of 
sabotage came ashore from submarines in 
rubber boats, carrying with them enough 
explosives to demolish some of our largest 
ammunitions plants. Four landed on Long 
Island and others in Florida. Had it not been 
for members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, some then in the temporary military 
Reserve, the saboteurs, all of whom had lived 
in this country previously and spoke English 
fluently, might have melted into the 
population of large cities without detection. 
All were rounded up and six of them were 
subsequently executed. 

Those ships, which attempted to put to sea, 
were being sunk within sight of the beaches, 
blackened by the oil from vessels which had 
been sunk by the raiders. Boatloads of 
survivors from these stricken vessels came 
ashore all along our coastline. A mute 
reminder of America besieged. 

American naval construction had concentrated 
on large ships of war, and there were few 


11 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


patrol boats or other naval vessels capable of 
dealing with the threat, posed by the 
submarines, to the sorely needed supplies 
carried by these merchant vessels. 

At first the sinkings were one a week, then 
rapidly expanded to one or more per day! 

Citizens from Maine to Florida and in the Gulf 
of Mexico watched as our ships went down 
within easy sight of our coast line. They could 
also hear the gunfire and sound of detonating 
torpedoes. So close, that along the coast one 
could see the mast of the stricken vessels, 
lying on the bottom, mast raised out of the 
water, toward the sky, in mute evidence of the 
devastation being wrought on our merchant 
fleet. 

Our Naval fleet was spread thinly throughout 
the world, in both the Atlantic and the 
Pacific, and the Navy, for security reasons, 
could not reveal the extent of damage to our 
fleet in the Pacific. 

Our supply lines were very long. Over 8,000 
miles to our troops in Australia, who had been 
on the way to the Philippines, when it was 
invaded by the Japanese, and the long 
hazardous crossings to England and to the 
Allied forces in Egypt. 

Our once proud merchant fleet had been 
skillfully impounded in the harbors and bays 
along our coast, and, of those that ventured 
out, few made it past the waiting submarines. 

The Navy, out of necessity, imposed strict 
censorship on the sinking of our merchantman, 
and even when the sinkings were within sight of 


12 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


harbors, denied that they had taken place, to 
avoid giving information and satisfaction to 
the enemy. 

The submarines became more bold as time 
passed, and one, at least, penetrated the St. 
Lawrence River, and sank two allied ships en 
route from Quebec to sea. 

Ranged against this formidable array of naval 
might, Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews, USN, 
Commander of the Eastern Sea Frontier, had 
at his disposal only a handful of wooden-hulled 
subchasers, left over from World War I, five 
old Ford-built Eagle boats, three ocean going 
yachts, that had been pressed into service, and 
less than a dozen good Coast Guard ships, to 
cover an area from Halifax to Key West and 
along the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Navy, with its available ships, had to 
choose between guarding its ever growing 
supply lines to the far outreaches of the 
Pacific and England, or withdraw, and protect 
our own coasts against the enemy and allow 
our own troops, and those of our Allies, to 
remain unprotected and without supplies; 
leaving them at the mercy of the Axis armed 
might. 

They chose the former, and hoped for time to 
acquire sufficient additional vessels of the 
proper type to take on the defense of America 
and its merchant fleet, so badly needed to 
transport the necessary supplies and materials 
to our factories manufacturing the supplies 
required, not only by our armed forces, but 
also those of our Allies, to defend the world 
against the Axis on all fronts. 


13 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


VESSELS SUNK ALONG OUR COAST 


A grim reminder of the dark period when the 
U-boats drove America’s shipping from our 
own waters. ”So close to our coast lines, that 
one could see the mast of the stricken vessels, 
lying on the bottom, mast raised to the sky, in 
mute evidence of the devastation being 
wrought on our merchant fleet.” 


14 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 









15 













































THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


A MIRACLE not unlike the one at Dunkirk, 
occurred. 

At this time there were more than 11,000 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in 
over 190 Flotillas, with more than 9,500 boats; 
their numbers growing almost daily as they 
were trained, not only as members of the U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, but also with the 
Auxiliary’s established advanced training. 
They also received additional training needed 
in the defense of our coast line and our 
country. 

The members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, formerly called the Civilian 
Reserve, were then under the Director of 
Reserve and Auxiliary, Commander Merlin 
O’Neill, and they were ready for immediate 
duty and fired with the same zeal as the 
Minutemen of another generation. 

From the yacht clubs and marinas along our 
coast came these civilian reserves, who, it was 
said, ’’went out to sea in ’’cockleshell boats” to 
do battle with an enemy which was 
threatening not only America itself, but 
denying the necessary tools of war to our 
Armed Forces and those of our Allies. 

They came from every place in our society, 
day laborers, lawyers, clerks, shopkeepers, 
doctors, craftsmen, and many others, all with 
experience in small craft handling, 
seamanship, piloting, and with excellent local 
knowledge of the areas of the coast in which 
they were operating. Some had years of 
experience in small craft, others, with less 
experience, received training, upon becoming 
members of the growing U. S. Coast Guard 


16 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


Auxiliary. Some became members of the 
military temporary reserve, others remained 
as the civilian reserve, the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. 

They painted the gleaming white hulls 
battleship gray. Some put aboard a hand gun 
or two and some had rifles, and others had no 
weapons at all. 

’’Cockleshells” indeed, in the face of at least 
100 huge trans-Atlantic submarines each 
armed with deck guns and other artillery, 
machine guns, other small arms, and crews of 
at least 65 highly trained men, making up a 
total force of at least 6,500 off the coast of 
America! 

But though their craft were mostly unarmed 
and fragile, in the face of such a formidable 
foe, they were above the moral and 
determination of the forces they faced. 

For more than two years they fought. Their 
story, will rank in history with that of the 
brave men of Concord and Lexington - and it 
needs to be told. 

A feature in the July 1943 issue of Motor 
Boating stated: ”No single instrument of 
warfare, except for the airplane, has changed 
the strategy of war today as much as the 
motorboat.” 

The sailing vessels had their place also. 
Known as the Corsair Fleet, they cruised 
noiselessly, and so were invaluable in 
submarine spotting. 

On February 19, 1941, Congress created the 
Temporary Reserve Act, the primary purpose of 


17 



THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


THE CORSAIR FLEET 


The eighty-four foot pleasure schooner 
Mendham, owned by Leonard B. Wheeler, of 
Boston, a member of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, outward bound to hunt enemy 
submarines during the critical early period of 
World War II. Note "CGR-1004" on the bow. 


18 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 










. * 







k 






19 

















































































































































































































THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Two 


which was to release regulars and regular 
military Reserves for sea and combat duty. In 
June, 1942, the Congress further amended the 
Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act, 
authorizing enrollment of Temporary Reserves 
for part time duty, in full military status, with 
or without pay. 

The major source of these civilian sailors was 
the U. S. Coast Guard's original Reserves. 

In May of 1942, Admiral King, USN, directed 
the Commander of Eastern Sea Frontier to 
acquire the "maximum practical number of 
civilian craft in any way capable of going to 
sea in good weather for at least 48 hours .... 
to operate along the 50-fathom curve of the 
Atlantic and Gulf coasts, particularly where 
submarines are found to be concentrated . . ." 
The members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, as members of the Temporary 
Reserve, or as members of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary, volunteered boats and 
manpower en masse. 

The U. S. Coast Guard also turned directly to 
the members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, its former civilian Reserve, who had 
not joined the Temporary Reserve. The first, 
of many such vessels of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, manned by its crew, was the Two 
Pals, which left from the 3rd District Coast 
Guard Station of Fort Tilden. She was soon 
joined by others, and they began patrolling an 
offshore area from Manasquan to the eastern 
tip of Long Island on routes averaging over 
12,000 miles a month. It became a security 
pattern duplicated in all of our Naval 
Districts. 


20 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


CHAPTER THREE 


THE COCKLESHELL FLEET 


General Gage, commander of the British 
Garrison in Boston, could not have been more 
astonished, when he saw his troops surrounded 
by thousands of armed farmers, than the 
submarine commander, when he saw a small, 
gray painted motorboat steering straight for 
his conning tower, as he lay surfaced deep in 
the shadows beneath Hillsboro Light, on a dark 
night in the spring of 1942. 

It was his first contact with a new generation 
of Minutemen, who, like their forebears, had 
risen up from their civilian pursuits to strike 
at this new threat to the liberty of their 
country. 

For months, the Nazi skipper and his fellow 
raiders had operated off our shores with 
impunity, blasting one cargo vessel after 
another without so much as a glimpse of an 
American Naval vessel or airplane. 

So embolden had they become at the paucity 
of our defenses that they now dared to lie 
openly, as in this instance, within shouting 
distance of the palm-fringed beach, close to 
the Hillsboro Yacht Club docks. 

It was only a short distance above that 
location, that four German saboteurs, armed 
with explosives, incendiary bombs disguised as 
lumps of coal, and detailed drawings of the 


21 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


war plants, in which they expected to deposit 
them, came ashore that same night, in a 
rubber raft from a German submarine, possibly 
the same one. 

There off the Hillsboro Light, where the Gulf 
Stream swings to within three miles of the 
Florida shoreline, southbound merchant ships 
were accustomed to run close inshore to avoid 
the Gulf Stream’s four knot northerly current. 
The bottleneck between that watery bend and 
the shore made an ideal hunting ground for the 
prowling U-boats, for through it traveled the 
bulk of the southbound coastal traffic. 

Within only a few miles of there, German 
submarines had attacked and sank five allied 
vessels in forty-eight hours. The Eclipse, 
DeLisle, Amazone, Java Arrow and Halsey; 
two of them oil tankers. 

It was a fertile field, and the submarine lay in 
wait for its next victim, in the slack water 
beneath the lighthouse. Torpedo tubes, though 
still masked behind watertight doors, faired 
into the U-boat’s hull, were loaded, and deck 
guns had been uncovered and ready to fire, 
awaiting the next target. 

Captain Bill Lewis was at the helm, having 
left Indian River, he put to sea, heading up the 
coast from Ft. Lauderdale, in Frank 
Raymond’s forty-six foot Mathews cruiser, 
Diane. 

The gray war paint, which covered the once 
gleaming white sides of the cruiser, was barely 
dry and this U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel 
was on the prowl. 


22 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


For nearly forty years Captain Bill had cruised 
Florida’s waters, in fair weather and fouL 
Game fisherman that he was, he never failed 
to thrill at the leap of a marlin, the shrill 
whine of a reel, or a slack line suddenly 
tautened by the rush of a tarpon. 

Tonight he was after the biggest game of all. 

Every dark spot in the clear, blue water, 
caused by the grasses of the ocean bottom, 
seemed to hide a lurking submarine; every tiny 
ripple on the calm surface appeared as the 
wash of a periscope. Every little bay and cove 
came in for the sharpest scrutiny, but the 
keen-eyed, experienced boatman found nothing 
amiss. 

Her silver wake shimmered in a smooth, 
rolling ribbon behind her as the Diane, cruising 
along at a comfortable fifteen knots, ran past 
the Hillsboro Light, eleven miles north of her 
home port. 

Suddenly, George Amon, at watch at the bow 
strained his eyes as he called softly to Bill, 
’’Bill”, he said, ”1 think there’s something on 
the surface there under the light!” 

”Damm if I don’t think you’re right”, Captain 
Bill replied, at the same time putting his 
wheel hard over to run closer in, for, blinded 
by the half million candlepower of the beacon, 
he still could not make out the shape lying in 
the big pool of darkness beneath. 

Scott Sandy left his post at the radio and 
squinted around the edge of the cabin for a 
better look. 


23 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


All at once, the outline of the huge submarine 
seemed to leap at them out of the darkness. 
She was all of 300 feet long, with a five-inch 
gun on her forward deck, a smaller one aft, 
and at least two still-lighter general purpose 
weapons on her armored conning tower. Too 
much submarine, thought Sandy, for a little, 
unarmed craft like the Diane. 

"Cut your engines", said Sandy, in Lewis’s ear, 
"and lie here while I radio the Coast Guard 
base. Maybe they haven T t spotted us and we 
can stay here on watch until they get a plane 
to take care of that fellow." 

The U-boat, however, appeared to have some 
way on her and while Sandy called the base, 
Captain Lewis, instead of stopping, poured it 
on until the Diane T engines were turning up 
their full twenty-four knots as her twin screws 
bit hungrily into the water, sending her bow 
high and her stern deep into the trough. The 
silver ribbon of a wake turned into an angrily 
boiling "V" as the speedy little boat bore 
ahead, dead on the sub’s conning tower. 

"She T ll be gone before we can get any help 
from the base", shouted Bill, "I T m going to try 
to ram her." 

Now Bill was not a professional fighting man, 
but in his heart burned the spirit which flamed 
in the breast of John Paul Jones when he 
turned the blazing cannon of his little sloop, 
the Bon Homme Richard, on the mighty 
frigate, Serapis. John Paul Jones was 
outgunned ten to one, and his batteries were 
silenced by the frigate’s broadsides when he 
sailed into the teeth of death, to take her by 
boarding. 


24 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


Lewis hesitated no more than did the Jonas 
Parkens and Caleb Harringtons and Ashel 
Porters, when those patriots, in buckskin shirts 
and homespun jackets, made their valorous 
stand, armed only with hunting rifles and 
fowling pieces, against Gage’s well equipped 
and highly trained regulars on Lexington 
Common, 167 years before. 

Men and women, down through time, when 
defending their country, liberty, justice and 
the right to be free, are a match for any well 
equipped, trained regulars who fight only 
because they are trained to do so, and not in 
defense of the freedoms and the love of 
country, the citizens of the United States have 
come to know and share. 

Knowing full well that a collision between the 
Diane and the sub could result in splintering 
the motorboat’s wooden hull, and that the 
possibility of damaging the U-boat was slight, 
Captain Bill still took that long chance that 
they might damage the sub enough that she 
would have to remain on the surface long 
enough to give the Coast Guard time to reach 
and destroy her. 

As he neared the undersea giant, he heard the 
hoarse voice of a klaxon horn from somewhere 
down in the guts of the sub, and made out the 
dim shapes racing across the slatted deck 
toward the forward gun. 

One blast from that gun, and the Diane would 
chase no more submarines, but the Diane bore 
in, closer, and closer yet. Then a guttural 
order snapped from the navigating bridge atop 
the conning tower, the shadowy figures around 
the gun dived for a hatch, and the submarine 


25 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


got underway with a sudden burst of speed, her 
wake boiling behind her. 

Lewis threw his wheel hard to port and for 
nearly a mile they raced, the little cruiser 
gaining slowly, as she bucked in the rolling 
wash of her slim, gray quarry, as they 
approached deeper water. The crew of the 
Diane continued to chase the sub as they 
looked for an airplane or a larger vessel in 
response to their call to the U. S. Coast 
Guard. 

Then the U-boat crash dived and disappeared 
in a sea of bubbles, followed by a torrent of 
sea language from the Captain and crew of the 
Diane. 

Up and down the coasts of the United States, 
similar dramas were being enacted as these 
daring, knowledgeable boatmen with their 
little craft, sometime armed with Springfield 
rifles, hand guns, or no arms at all, churned 
the seas along the coasts with the beat of 
thousands of propellers, as they plowed their 
way back and forth along the hundred fathom 
curve, which runs in a wavy course from 
Halifax to the Florida Keys. 

Also, these private craft, manned by the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary, the U. S. Coast Guard’s 
first reserve, roamed the U. S. coast bordering 
on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Not knowing it, these small craft of the U. S. 
Coast Guard’s civilian Reserve, the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary, and those of them who 
had joined the Temporary Reserve, often 
serving together, were creating the miracle, 
which would give the Navy time they had 


26 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


hoped for, to build the much needed additional 
vessels of a type to take on the home defense. 

The churning propellers up and down the long 
Eastern coast line and in the Gulf of Mexico, 
made the waters of our coast line safer for the 
merchant fleet, because they kept the U-boats 
down, their Captains not knowing whether or 
not the sounds they heard were ships of war 
ready to drop "ash cans” to blow them out of 
the waters, merchant ships or these "pleasure 
craft” now part of the defense of this great 
nation. It did keep the U-boats down, and thus 
an unknown number of the Merchant ships 
escaped the wolf packs to transport their 
cargo to the United States factories, which 
were the "Arsenal of Democracy” for our 
troops and that of our Allies. 

The names of some of these members of the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary are legend, and 
are recorded for all to know, but it is not of 
them we write, but of one of the most unique 
organizations ever created by Congress. Born 
out of an Act of the Congress, at the request 
of the Department of the Treasury and the U. 
S. Coast Guard, as a civilian Reserve to 
"Assist the U. S. Coast Guard. . .”, for many 
nonmilitary purposes, its name changed to "U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary,” when the military 
Reserve of the U. S. Coast Guard was 
created, but with its original purposes 
unchanged, and called upon at a time of the 
greatest threat to our shores; its members 
performed with outstanding valor, against a 
background of boating experience and training, 
learned in the years before the war, and 
instantly ready, when called upon at a time 
when our country, and our Allies, were in 
great need. 


27 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 
who slapped a coat of battleship gray on their 
private vessels and went down to sea to do 
battle with the submarines. With no arms 
aboard but perhaps a Springfield rifle or a Colt 
automatic. But they carried the greatest 
weapons of alL The spirit of Lexington and 
Concord and the perseverance of Valley Forge. 
With their determination and the aid of radio 
telephones, they spotted and reported lurking 
submarines and their churning propellers help 
keep the enemy at bay. The numbers and 
names on the "cockleshell fleet" were not 
uniform. Some had numbers and the letters 
"U.S.C.G.R.", some had no numbers or name, 
and some painted "Coast Guard," on the sides. 
Whatever they chose, they all were THE 
VOLUNTEERS, the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. 


28 



29 






THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


They did their job, and they astonished not 
only the U-boat skippers, but also some of the 
officers of our own Navy and Coast Guard, 
with the efficiency they displayed in their 
knowledge of seamanship, piloting, small boat 
handling, and their bravery. 

Neither the Army or the Navy had the means 
at their disposal to put up a fight against the 
wolf packs, or even against the lone raiders, 
but THE VOLUNTEERS fought the Battle for 
the American coast lines, for two years, until 
the Navy had the vessels and manpower to 
take up the defense. And, by then, the most 
troublesome dangers had passed. Again, the 
Minutemen of a new generation had fought the 
enemy, not with pitchforks, knives and hunting 
muskets, but with "Cockleshells" and hand 
guns and Springfield rifles, and, most of all, 
with the courage and knowledge of small craft 
handling, seamanship, piloting, and local 
knowledge of our coast lines. 

No longer were the hidden factories all over 
the Reich, and in occupied territories, turning 
out prefabricated submarines day and night, 
and every week assembling them so that they 
could slip out of their "pens" at Lorient and 
Brest, France, and Emden and Wilhelmshaven, 
in Germany, to steal across the Atlantic to 
what was once a happy hunting ground — 
America. 

Others also joined in this great effort. The 
Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer organization, 
which was incorporated, after the war, by an 
Act of the Congress, in 1946, as a private 
corporation, added their own courageous 
efforts to this fight against those U-boats 
threatening the United States and its coast 


30 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


lines. These flying Minutemen also did much to 
keep the enemy submarines at bay. However, 
that is another story, and here, we are relating 
that of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

Our merchant fleet, the now famous ’’Liberty 
Ships”, began to come out of the ship builders 
yards, all over America, at the rate of five a 
day. Small woodworking shops, and builders of 
small craft, began turning out PC and YP 
boats. 

Our merchantmen were being armed with guns 
and gun crews, as quickly as the guns could be 
built and the crews trained. 

The might of America, and her people, were 
beginning to be felt in this struggle for 
freedom and democracy. Thus the nation 
came together, as in World War I, and the 
other wars which had preceded it, to face the 
common enemy. 

During this period, of our country at war, THE 
VOLUNTEERS performed many other useful 
services. 

It was not only the churning propellers which 
kept the U-boats down. The many sightings of 
the submarines, which were reported by radio, 
from this armada of civilian boats, which 
sometimes led to the sinking of those lurking 
U-boats, that also made the members of the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary a valuable part of 
this important aspect of defending America. 
Another important aspect of their service 
was the rescue of survivors from torpedoed 
vessels; and it was in that field that these 
skippers again proved themselves invaluable to 
the U. S. Coast Guard, the U. S. Navy, our 


31 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


merchant fleet, and to America. Large 
numbers of these survivors lived because of 
the quick, efficient action of members of the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

As an example, Commander William 
Mansfield’s crew put to sea from Miami, 
summoned from their homes on the night of 
May 14, 1942. They went to sea to find the 
torpedoed Mexican tanker Porto de Llano 
wallowing in flames in the middle of the Gulf 
Stream. The vessel, and its cargo, were set 
ablaze by an incendiary ’’fish”, and oil was 
afire on the surface of the water surrounding 
the ship. 

The vessel’s crewmem leaped into that 
inferno, and many died instantly. A few, 
however, by diving, surfacing and splashing 
and diving again, managed to stay alive and 
work their way to the edge of the ring of fire 
surrounding the vessel. 

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary boat 
approached to the very edge of the flaming oil 
and took aboard those who had survived, from 
what would have otherwise been an agonizing 
death, and were sped back to a waiting Red 
Cross mobile hospital unit ashore. Had it not 
been for those aboard that U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary boat, all would have perished. 

So, too, were the survivors of the Gulfpride, 
off Barnegat Inlet, when a torpedo blasted her 
amidships. Saved by members of the U.. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary, under flotilla 
Commander Donald Applegate. Hardly had 
the echo of the shattering blast died away 
before the telephone warning system, 
previously set up by the flotilla, was in 


32 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


operation. The flotilla members were quickly 
routed from their beds, and their boats 
steamed to the rescue. Within twenty-two 
minutes, every living survivor was ashore and 
drinking coffee at a Coast Guard Lifeboat 
Station, thanking the members of the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

The flotilla members did not know it, at the 
time, but all the while their boats were 
chugging about the scene of the wreck, the 
raider, which had fired the torpedo, was lying 
quietly on the bottom, just beneath their 
throbbing propellers, and soon afterwards, was 
to sink yet another victim from the same 
"stand." 

Again, the members of the flotilla were called 
upon to make yet another rescue. Commander 
Applegate, a peace-loving Toms River real 
estate dealer, took his little fleet of boats on 
their second rescue cruise in twenty-four 
hours. The same U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
flotilla was to perform a third rescue, within a 
short distance of the other two — and this 
time was to have the satisfaction of seeing the 
U-boat, which had destroyed those three 
merchantmen, blasted out of the water by a 
pair of blimps from the nearby Lakehurst 
Naval Air Station, assisted by a flight of Army 
bombers. 

Meanwhile, up and down the coast, the same 
type of rescues were repeated over and over 
again. While there is no exact count of the 
number of survivors thus saved by the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary, the number was large. 
And, whenever there was a sinking, the 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
were there. 


33 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


In the Delaware Bay, they were aiding in the 
rescue of the crew of the J. R. Williams, a big 
seagoing tug, under charter to the Navy, which 
struck a mine and sank just outside the mouth 
of the Delaware River, not far from the spot 
where the U. S. S. Jacob Jones, an old four- 
staker destroyer of World War I vintage, was 
torpedoed with a loss of one hundred and 
thirty men shortly before. 

Off the Delaware Capes, and all along the 
Eastern Shore, past Cape Hatteras, on the 
Carolina coast, and on down to Florida, and in 
the Gulf of Mexico, these little gray boats of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, carried on 
their patrols and were ready to respond 
instantly to distress calls, and aid their larger 
sisters of the U. S. Coast Guard. 

"To facilitate the operations of the Coast 
Guard", read their statement of purposes in 
the Federal Statutes. And that they did. 
Living up to that avowed purpose in the fullest 
measure. Not only did they implement the 
war against the U-boats directly, but also 
aided indirectly in taking over many of the 
responsibilities of the regular Coast Guard, 
thus relieving thousands of trained men for 
offshore duty. 

Every little bay and cove along the Atlantic 
seaboard had its stories of rescues effected by 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary; rescues 
which but for THE VOLUNTEERS, would have 
devolved upon the other part of the U. S. 
Coast Guard family, the regulars, and kept 
them from more pressing duties elsewhere. 

There was the time David Grimes, vice 
president of Philco Radio and Television 


34 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


Corporation, and a member of flotilla 126, 
rescued a seventeen-year old boy, who became 
exhausted while trying to swim to a buoy, 
moored fifty yards offshore at Barnegat Inlet. 
Grimes later gave his life for his country, 
when he was killed in the crash of an Army 
transport plane, in Ireland. 

Yes, although the country was at war, and the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary was fighting the 
enemy and rescuing survivors of vessels 
stricken by the U-boats, it was also still 
pursuing its purposes: "To assist the U. S. 
Coast Guard in promoting safety and in 
effecting rescues on and over the high seas 
and on navigable water; to promote efficiency 
in the operation of motorboats and yachts; to 
foster a wider knowledge of, and better 
compliance with, the laws, rules, and 
regulations governing the operation of 
motorboats and yachts; and to facilitate other 
operations of the U. S. Coast Guard.” 

Another little known service performed by the 
crews of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, was 
that in spotting and reporting lurking 
submarines, which provided valuable 
information to Naval intelligence, which aided 
the Navy in directing ships away from the 
more dangerous areas, and provided 
information which led to the later destruction 
of a number of the U-boats. 

But for the efforts of THE VOLUNTEERS, 
many crewmen would have gone to their 
death, and many more merchant ships would 
have been sunk, and more U-boats would have 
been left to stalk and sink our dwindling fleet 
of merchantmen. 


35 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


There was humor too, some of it not so 
serious, and some more serious than the 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
would like to admit. 

Sometimes, one may take a conservative 
business or professional man and put him on a 
horse, or in an airplane, or in the cockpit of a 
boat and he will become a brand new 
personality. 

That is the way it was with Maurice Cole, as 
quiet an individual as ever thumbed a volume 
of law, when he was in his Atlantic City law 
office. The Coast Guard Auxiliary had turned 
him into an untiring and enthusiastic 
submarine hunter. 

Maury Cole T s law clients would have hastened 
to find a new attorney, had they seen him that 
day, thirteen miles out in the Atlantic off 
Absecon Inlet, whooping crazily, as he tugged 
at a three-quarter-inch manila line with a 
large and very active submarine at the other 
end of it. 

It happened while he was on a salvage mission 
in his 38-foot yacht, Monjoie II, then enrolled 
in Flotilla 11, and on active duty in the rescue 
patrol. Ordered to grapple for the wreckage 
of the 80-foot ”YP” boat which had sunk off 
the Atlantic City shore a few days before, 
Maury was dragging the hook when he snagged 
something moving beneath the surface. 

’’Maybe it’s a whale,” said Ernie Nolte, a tall, 
thin electrician from Atlantic City, who was 
at the helm. ’’Make your line fast to a cleat 
and we’ll hitch a ride.” 


36 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


As the line grew taut and the little craft 
picked up speed, Nolte exploded: "By gosh, it 
is a whale!" 

By this time the Monjoie was laying a wake 
worthy of a Gold Cup racer and Maury, 
sprawled on the bucking foredeck, was pulling 
frantically at the line trying to take in slack 
and bring his quarry to the surface. 

Then he saw the periscope break the water. 

"Ray," he shouted. "We T ve hooked a sub!" 

"Yeh," retorted Ray Jeffries, "but what are we 
going to do with it?" 

The fact that the little yacht and her unarmed 
crew were entirely at the mercy of the huge 
raider of the sea never occurred to them, as 
they hung on while reporting to the Coast 
Guard base by radio. 

It apparently never occurred to the U-boat 
skipper, either, for when he turned the 
periscope T s Cyclopean eye aft and spotted the 
Monjoie, her owner and his crew, bravely 
decked out in gray war paint, "pursuing" him, 
he crashed dived. 

Luckily the line parted, or the Monjoie, her 
owner and crew would have followed him 
down. 

Maury Cole had the good fortune to see two 
subs and scored an assist in the sinking of the 
second. He, and Wilbur Bishop, also an 
Atlantic City attorney, were on patrol off 
Great Bay, when a submarine surfaced not 
seventy-five yards away. 


37 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


BLIMPS AND THE VOLUNTEERS 


The little blimp, for many years the step-child 
of America’s Navy, became one of the most 
potent weapons against the raiders, often 
responding to reports of sightings of 
submarines by members of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary, and dropping depth charges 
which sank the U-boats. It was a team effort. 


38 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 



















THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


"We’ve had it," said Bishop, who was getting 
his first sight of a U-boat, and, he added, "it’s 
big as a house." 

The only weapon aboard the Monjoie at the 
time was a swab, but while Bishop was 
notifying the Coast Guard via radio, Maury 
headed toward the sub and followed along in 
its wake, fearful the big undersea craft would 
get away before the Coast Guard could get an 
aircraft or vessel to the scene. 

They thus traveled along, with the Monjoie 
behind, until suddenly the sub crash dived. 
The reason was not long in becoming apparent. 
Overhead came a big, fat patrol blimp, which 
dropped depth charges. The oil slicks that 
followed confirmed the fact that the U-boat 
fleet numbered one less than before. 

As exciting as Maury Cole’s hook-and-line 
adventure was, the experience of Willard 
Lewis, the Ft. Lauderdale boat skipper, one 
spring morning in 1942, is worth re-telling. 

Lewis was on patrol in "Doc" Holman’s 38 foot 
week-end cruiser, now painted gray. 

Off the Port Everglades buoy, near the Florida 
coast, he was turning in the requested one-half 
hourly reports to the Coast Guard base, and 
was ordered to look for survivors from a 
tanker, which had been torpedoed an hour 
before, just over the horizon. 

Lewis, and his crew, Bill, did not find the 
torpedoed ship, which, they subsequently 
learned, had managed to make her way into 
port despite a huge hole in the bow. 


40 


t he volunteers 


Chapter Three 


But they did find the submarine. 

About a mile off their port bow they saw the 
U-boat surface and then dive again, like a 
gigantic porpoise. Swinging the wheel over, he 
nursed his converted automobile engine up to 
its top speed, and chugged along, at all of 
twelve knots, toward the spot where his quarry 
had disappeared. 

A few minutes later, the sub rose again, ran 
along the surface a short distance, and once 
more slid out of sight. 

It was evident from her erratic actions that 
the gun crew of the tanker, with which the sub 
had exchanged scores of rounds, had managed 
to land a shot which damaged her diving planes 
— the huge flippers which jutted out from 
each side of her bow. 

”We’ve lost her,” said Lewis, when the U-boat 
failed to re-appear after a fifteen minute 
interval. ”The Coast Guard base will never 
believe us,” he said. 

But, a few minutes after that, there came a 
crunching impact which lifted the little 
cruiser clear out of the water, and Bill and the 
skipper went tumbling to the deck. 

As the little craft settled back with a wrench 
of cracked planking and a fearful groan from 
her undersides, Lewis crawled over to the 
gunwale and looked down upon the shadowy 
outline of the U-boat as it slid back into the 
depths of the water and disappeared. 

The little craft limped back into port with a 
cracked keel, and when they hauled her out, 


41 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


THE END OF AN ENEMY U-BOAT 


An enemy submarine, sinking, after being hit 
by bombs. The surviving crew are being taken 
aboard a small vessel, as the U-boat settles 
slowly by the stern. Many of the enemy 
seamen were taken prisoner from crippled 
submarines. 


42 



n. 












THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


COAST GUARD FAMILY STRIKES THE ENEMY 


Spotted by the crew of a Coast Guard 
Auxiliary vessel, an enemy U-boat is forced to 
the surface by depth charges, and its conning 
tower is blasted by a five-inch shell from a 
Coast Guard cutter, while the machine 
gunners aboard the Coast Guard cutter keep 
the area around the submarine’s deck guns 
under fire to prevent the gun crews from 
manning their weapons. A crew member of 
the submarine may be spotted taking cover in 
the lee of the conning tower. 


44 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 



45 












































THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


they found streaks of blue and black paint 
along her bottom — paint manufactured, 
without a doubt, in the I. G. Farben chemical 
plant in Mannheim, Germany. 

And, Lewis had no problem convincing the men 
at the base about the sub. 

Members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 
furnished their own boats, and served upon 
them without pay. They regarded it as a duty 
to their country, these volunteers. 

Most of their boats were equipped with two 
way radio, which was a useful tool for tasks 
they undertook. 

Ranging far out into the ocean, these 
erstwhile members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, formerly called U. S. Coast Guard 
Reserves, whose job description called for 
safety at sea, search and rescues and boating 
education, had become skippers of war ships, 
small and unprotected by armor and guns. 

Yet they did their job — and performed it 
well. 

There are hundreds of stories about the vessels 
and the members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, which occurred during this period, 
all worth telling. But this is a story of an 
organization, not a history of its men and 
women. But these few examples do serve to 
give some insight of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, the U. S. Coast Guard’s first 
Reserve, and its role in World War II. 


46 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


Not to be overlooked was another unique 
program, which ended in another amendment 
to the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and 
Reserve Act. On November 23, 1942, the Act 
was amended to provide for a Women’s 
Reserve, known as SPARS, (from the Coast 
Guard motto: Semper Paratus; Always 

Ready). The name was the idea of Captain 
Dorothy Stratton. 

The SPARS also served with distinction. 

There is yet another little known story about 
the service of members of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary that should be recorded. 

After the threats to our own coast line had 
been overcome, a number of the members of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteered 
to serve in the Small Ships Branch, Water 
Transport Division, Transportation Corps, 
United States Army. 

Often referred to as "MacArthur’s Navy"; 
these members of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary shipped out to New Guinea and other 
far away places in the Pacific, to operate 
small craft in support to General Douglas 
MacArthur’s long fight to save Australia and 
regain control of the islands taken by the 
enemy at the beginning of the war in the 
Pacific, and finally free the Phillippines. 

The following was supplied by Mr. Ed Dennis, 
presently an editor for Motor Boating & 
Sailing, and reprinted here with his permission. 


47 





THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


Mr. Dennis introduction reads as follows: 

"THE SAGA OF THE 
SMALL SHIPS" 


’’The story of that valiant band of seamen, 
gathered from the rocky banks of Maine to the 
Gulf of Mexico and from the entire length of 
the Pacific Coast, in answer to their Country’s 
call to man the small ships no others would 
sail — their tale of hardships, perils, and 
accomplishments will some day be recorded 
for posterity by one of that band. Quoting 
Captain Walter B. Walker, at Oro Bay, Papua, 
New Guinea in 1943.” 

’’They served . . . sailed and died with the 
noble dignity of free sailors.” 

A large number of these men were members of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, as was Mr. Ed 
Dennis, a member of U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, Flotilla 1101, of Far Rockerway, 
Long Island, New York. Organized prior to 
World War II, the members served during the 
war, either as members of the Coast Guard 
Auxiliary or joined the Temporary Reserve 
during the war. 

Some, like Ed Dennis, (a marine diesel 
engineer), not content when the enemy was 
driven from our shores, became a part of that 
little known band of experienced small boat 
skippers and crews, of ’’MacArthur’s Navy”. 

General Douglas MacArthur’s historic fight for 
island after island in the Pacific and the re¬ 
taking of the Phillippines is another story of 


48 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


American heroism that will live in history. A 
part of that history, is that of members of the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Trained and 
ready to serve, they again proved the need for, 
and the value of, well trained small boat 
sailors. Should tragedy strike again, the men 
and women of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
will be ready to defend the precious freedoms 
of our country at home and abroad. 

General Douglas MacArthur said in March, 
1942, "We will defend Australia in New 
Guinea." 

But General MacArthur needed boats for 
transportation of men and supplies. 

As Ed Dennis has written: 

"There were no ships available from the Navy, 
and there were no sailors to man the vessels 
they did not have. So General MacArthur was 
left to secure the coast of Papua and 
recapture Buna, New Guinea, as best he could 
with whatever water transportation he could 
scrounge. 

"Thus the fleet of small ships was born and 
quickly dubbed ’MacArthur’s Navy. 1 

"The job of forming this flotilla of small ships 
fell to two citizens of the United States; 
Bruce and Sheridan Fahnestock, both of whom, 
it has been reported, were members of the U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. They were familiar 
with small craft and had made several 
National Geographic expeditions along the 
New Guinea coast and along Australia’s Great 
Barrier Reef in their yacht, Director II. 


49 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 1101 
building, Far Rockerway, Long Island, New 
York. Picture taken on 4 July 1944. A 
number of the members of this Flotilla served 
in General Douglas MacArthur’s "MacArthurs 
Navy", in the Southwest Pacific during World 
War II. Picture courtesy of Ed Dennis. 


50 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 




- 

■ ■ ■ - 

... 

— 


U.s. COAST GUARD 

auxiliary 


HOTtUA 












THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


Vessel of member of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, serving in the Coast Guard 
Temporary Reserve. Persons aboard, CPO 
Ludeman, the owner; Barney Rath, Boatswain 
Mate 2nd Class; and Ed Dennis MM 1st Class, 
all of U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 
1101. Picture courtesy of Ed Dennis. 


52 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 





53 























































THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


U. S. Army A. T. S. in waters off New Guinea. A 
Part of "Mac Arthur’s Navy," during World War II. 
Every member of the crew was a member of the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Picture courtesy of 
Ed Dennis. 


54 



55 





















THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


"Commissioned officers in the U. S. Army, 
they scrounged the waters of Australia and 
New Zealand, buying, and otherwise 
appropriating, any and all types of small 
vessels, which could carry any kind of cargo. 

"Manned by scores of members of the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary and other experienced 
small boatmen of the United States, they were 
hastily recruited and rushed overseas. 

"Many were T too old T to be enlisted in the other 
armed services, but none the less, they 
became General MacArthur’s Navy, and fought 
and died; greatly assisting in the step, by 
tortuous step, advance to defeat the enemy 
and help win the war in the Pacific. 

"Many like myself, saw enemy action along the 
Papua, New Guinea Coast, within a few 
months after signing up at the Army base in 
Brooklyn, New York;" Ed Dennis has written. 

"These individuals early training was that 
which they had learned through courses taught 
by the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and it 
proved to be invaluable to the sorely pressed 
forces of General MacArthur. 

"They were quickly indoctrinated into the 
fierce war being fought ’down under’, by the 
low diving Zeros and the Betty bombers. 
Casualties were high, but these members of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary fought 
alongside their comrades of the U. S. Army. 

"Larger vessels were kept clear of the combat 
zones. They unloaded their cargo aboard the 
small ships for the long haul up the Papuan 
coast into the combat zones. These small 


56 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


boats, and, sometimes, unfortunately their 
crews, were expendable.” 

Thus, still another chapter in the history of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary was written 
in one of the bloodiest of the many fronts of 
World War II. 

The need for the members of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary in both time of peace as well 
as in time of war will always exist — and they 
are ready and prepared. Their many hours of 
continuous training, and actual experience in 
peace time search and rescue and safety 
patrols, in both vessels and aircraft, to this 
day, is indicated by the motto of the members 
of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary family — 
Semper Paratus —Always Ready. We must add 
— ”A Proud Tradition —A Worthy Mission." 
We could not ask more from "THE 
VOLUNTEERS," who serve their country in 
both peace and war. 


57 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Three 


58 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


CHAPTER FOUR 


PEACE RETURNS 

As the long war came to an end, the reserves 
of our armed forces were returning to their 
civilian jobs, the factories of war were turning 
to the production of civilian goods, and the 
Nation was looking forward to a period of 
peace. THE VOLUNTEERS, the members of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, were 
returning to their peace time activities 
including the missions they had set upon on 
June 23, 1939, by mandate of the United 
States Congress. 

There was at this time no National 
organization, as such. The membership was 
divided into flotillas, just as before and during 
the war, centered around Coast Guard 
Districts. 

The organization varied somewhat from 
District to District. 

But, the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary had its 
missions, the very same as when it became the 
first U. S. Coast Guard Reserve. 

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s national 
education program was assisted by the 
establishment of the Coast Guard Auxiliary 
Press; established in New York in 1942. It 
produced no less than twenty-seven items, 
including 14 special U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary publications ranging from ’’First Aid” 
to ’’Power Boat Engines.” 


59 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


The 3rd District, under LTCDR R. E. Tyrrell, 
USCGR, outlined a program which set out 
many of the present authorized activities of 
the Auxiliary, in furtherance of the mandate 
established by the Congress. 

In proud recognition of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary’s wartime service, the Coast Guard 
Commandant, late in 1945, issued a 
commendatory statement: ’’The U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary during the war years was 
indispensable. Many thousands of you served 
faithfully and loyally as members of the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary and as members of the 
temporary Reserve, performing hundreds of 
tasks and relieving thousands of Coast 
Guardsmen for duty outside the continental 
limits. The U. S. Coast Guard is deeply 
appreciative of your service.” 

”We will turn from the fervor and fever of war 
to the practical problems of peace . . . said 
Commander George H. Miller, USCG, 12th 
District, San Francisco. 

The turn, forecast in 1946 by Commander 
Miller, brought the members of the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary from gratuitous 
wartime duties, afloat and ashore, through the 
hiatus of war time activities, to their vital 
services to the public and the U. S. Coast 
Guard in time of peace. 

In mid 1947 there were 24,273 active members 
of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

Gradually, the reconversion of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary to peace time missions began 
in earnest. 


60 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


JChapter Four 


At a vital conference at Headquarters of all 
Directors and Commodores, in Washington on 
March 19-21, 1946, the question of the peace 
time activities of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary were detailed. From this it emerged 
as a self-disciplined group, guaranteed full U. 
S. Coast Guard cooperation and support, and 
with a determination to fulfill its mandate, 
through missions authorized by the 
Commandant. 

In general, the new programs required: 

(a) disenrollment of inactive members; 

(b) re-establishment of facility ownership as a 
membership requirement; 

(c) reorganization of District, Division and 
Flotilla levels; and 

(d) intensification of activities. 

Also, in 1947 the U. S. Coast Guard set out 
what was to become its four cornerstones; 
Operations, Vessel Examination, Education, 
and Fellowship. 

All of these, approved by the Commandant, 
were in compliance with the statutory 
obligations of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

In the same address in which he urged 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
towards the pursuits of peace time activities, 
Commander Miller said; "The paramount 
purpose of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is 
to promote safety and efficiency in the 
operation of all motorboats and yachts. . . Our 
method for accomplishing this service for 
fellow yachtsmen now embraced two fields- 
courtesy examinations and classroom 
instruction. 


61 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


Since 1939 the members of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary had been equipping their boats 
in accordance with Coast Guard safety 
requirements. The USCG Auxiliary now 
evolved its courtesy motorboat examination 
program for the general boating public. 
Known today as the CME (Courtesy Marine 
Examination), it became an important 
contribution to the safety of small craft at 
sea. This program was quickly Nationalized. 

To complement the CME program, the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary quickly followed with 
its National Public Education Program, 
launched in January, 1948, at the New York 
Boat Show. 

Two other cornerstone programs, Operations 
and Fellowship became defined in the 1950s. 

The first, called upon members of the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary, after suitable 
instruction, to assist the U. S. Coast Guard in 
civil functions, particularly safety patrols, 
marine regattas, search and rescue missions, 
checking aids to navigation; and to cooperate 
with the U. S. Coast Guard in dealing with the 
press and the public. 

Fellowship was seen as a means whereby the 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
could meet and exchange safe boating, 
educational, Search and Rescue and other 
ideas for the advancement of the U. S. Coast 
Guard, the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and 
the U. S. Coast Guard Reserve, the ’’family” 
which makes up the U. S. Coast Guard. 

In the meantime, the father of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary, Admiral Russel R. Waesche, 


62 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


retired in January 1946 and was succeeded by 
Admiral Joseph F. Farley as Commandant. 

Across the land, from 1946 onward, members 
of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary were 
responding vitally to the needs of the boating 
public. Members of Flotilla 315, Asbury Park, 
N. J., assisted in rescue work during a heavy 
1946 gale. 

The Second District, (Peoria, IL and St. Louis, 
MO), Flotillas played a major role in supplying 
flood relief during the great inundations of 
1947. The Second District members of the U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary effected 35 life-or- 
death rescues that year. 

Division II of the First District proudly 
reported a breeches buoy rescue of crewmen 
from the wrecked collier, Oakley L. Alexander 
off Cape Elizabeth. 

In year round boating areas, 12 month boating 
examination stations were established, such as 
the one in Los Angeles. 

The first Vessel Examiner's Guide (CG 289) 
was authorized in December 31, 1953. 

The national public education programs were 
growing, and by 1956 the U. S. Coast Guard 
had standard 8-lesson and 3-lesson courses. 

Across the land, the number of members, as 
well as their efforts, were expanding rapidly. 

The membership had expanded to San Juan, St. 
Thomas, St. Croix and Alaska, and soon 
thereafter, to Hawaii. 


63 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


By 1953, after cleaning their rolls, the 
membership in the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
was 16,106 and this grew to 38,000 in 1976. 

The creation of the National organization 
came in 1951, when Admiral Merlin O’Neill, 
the Commandant, gave his consent to the 
formation of the National organization and the 
election of a National Commodore. 

The purposes of the National Board remained 
mostly one of meetings in which ideas could be 
exchanged, and exchanges between U. S. Coast 
Guard officers and the District Commodores 
could take place. 

The first National Standing Rules were simple: 

”1. The National Board shall establish a fund 
for its activities and projects, the funds for 
which are not furnished by the U. S. Coast 
Guard. The same shall be maintained by dues 
paid by the Districts. 

”2. It shall be the duty of the Secretary- 
Treasurer to receive and pay out funds on the 
order of the National Commodore. 

”3. The books of the National Board’s 
Secretary-Treasurer shall be audited at or 
before each yearly conference by the Auditing 
Committee. 

’’4. Within sixty (60) days after his election 
the National Commodore shall submit a budget 
for the ensuing year to the National Board for 
its approval. 

”5. The National Board shall hold its Annual 
National Conference between Easter and the 


64 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


fifteenth day of May. 

”6. The National Commodore shall appoint the 
following each year: 

(a) The Ways and Means Committee, to consist 
of five members, at least three of whom shall 
be incumbent Commodores. 

(b) Awards committee, to consist of three 
members, at least two of whom shall be 
incumbent Commodores. 

(c) The Auditing Committee, to consist of two 
incumbent Commodores whose duty it shall be 
to audit the books of the National Board’s 
Secretary-Treasurer. 

(d) Special committees and individuals may be 
appointed by the National Commodore to 
consist of incumbent or past commodores. 

(e) Following the annual election, the 
incumbent National Commodore shall remain 
in office for a period of 30 days. 

”7. These Standing Rules may be amended at 
any yearly conference by the vote of two- 
thirds of the members present at said 
conference.” 

On December 18, 1957, the Coast Guard 
Auxiliary National Board, Inc. was 
incorporated for a perpetual duration, and 
approved by the Commandant. 

Its purposes were, and are: 

"Exclusively charitable, scientific, and 
educational. To assist any and all authorized 


65 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


activities of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 
an integral part of the U. S. Federal 
Government, as established by the Federal 
Statutes and authorized by the Commandant 
of the U. S. Coast Guard, and to further the 
general purposes of the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. To receive by way of gift, devise, 
bequest or otherwise, money, funds, assets, 
real or personal property, to hold, invest, re¬ 
invest and expend funds, property and other 
assets, real, personal, and mixed, to further 
the purposes of this Corporation. TT 

The remaining portions of the Articles of 
Incorporation are in accordance with accepted 
legal practices for nonprofit, tax exempt 
corporations. 

From June, 1964, to September, 1966, the 
National Board and the Auxiliary underwent 
major changes. 

The National Board assumed more 
responsibility for the overall functions* of the 
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, its Standing 
Rules were greatly enlarged and expanded, 
with the approval of the Commandant, 
Admiral E. J. Roland, to give the National 
Board more control and direction over the 
course of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary as a 
National organization. 

A national mailing list was constructed. A 
difficult procedure, as the District rolls were 
then not complete or up-dated. 

Its National Publication was mailed directly to 
the membership, for the first time in the 
history of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 


66 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


This mailing list also lead to the ability of the 
National Commodore, and the Chief Director 
of Auxiliary, to communicate directly with the 
membership. 

Advanced training leading to Auxiliary 
Operational Member (AUXOP) was divided 
into separate subjects, which could be studied 
and taken separately. Though the actual 
preparation and distribution of these books 
took several years to write, print, and 
distribute. 

A National Program was devised and 
distributed annually, with goals set by 
National as a measure of progress by each 
District, Division and Flotilla. 

Awards were established for the attainment of 
predetermined standards, for Districts, 
Divisions, Flotillas and individuals. For the 
first time, other than at an Annual Meeting, 
the leadership of the organization had the 
names and addresses of the National Officers, 
the District Commodores, the National Staff 
and the District Staff Officers. The 
organization was communicating on a National 
level, as well as on a local level, and the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary had indeed become a 
National Organization. 

A table of organization was established and 
the concept of Vertical and Parallel Staffing, 
similar to that of large corporations, was 
devised and distributed and also incorporated 
into Coast Guard Manuals. 

The Standing Rules of the National Board, and 
the By-laws of the Coast Guard Auxiliary 
National Board, Inc., were completely revised 


67 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Four 


and rewritten, with the consent of the Admiral 
E. J. Roland, then the Commandant of the U. 
S. Coast Guard, to establish for the first time, 
within the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, a 
substantive National, cohesive organization; 
still dedicated to the purposes mandated by 
the Federal Statutes creating the 
organization, and in the form previously 
created by the Commandant of the U. S. Coast 
Guard. 

New uniforms were devised and approval of 
the new uniforms and insignia was obtained 
from the Commandant. The correct method 
of wearing uniforms, insignia and ribbons was 
set out in a Uniform Manual. 

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary had come of 
age, and with it came new duties, 
responsibilities and standards. 


68 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


CHAPTER FIVE 

ORGANIZATION 


The organizational structure of the U. S. 
Coast Guard Auxiliary is not unique. It is 
based upon the structure of many larger 
corporate entities. 

In application, within the military background 
of the U. S. Coast Guard, and as a Federal 
entity, and its adaptation to an efficient 
corporate structure, makes it unique. 

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, for 
administrative purposes, is divided into 
Flotillas, the basic unit, which generally 
consists of as few as ten individuals, and an 
average of thirty members. The officers of the 
Flotilla are a Flotilla Commander and Flotilla 
Vice-Commander, and certain required, and 
designated staff officers. 

The next administrative units are divisions, 
which consist of five or more flotillas. The 
officers of the Division are the Division 
Captain and Division Vice Captain, along with 
certain required and other staff officers. 

Districts are the next administrative units. 
Districts, generally correspond with U. S. 
Coast Guard Districts, except in certain U. S. 
Coast Guard Districts which contain large land 
areas. 

These larger U. S. Coast Guard Districts are 
subdivided into Regions, which, for 


69 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


administrative purposes, have the same 
attributes as other U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary Districts. The officers of districts, 
and regions, are a District Commodore, 
District Vice Commodore and one or more 
District Rear Commodores, and certain 
required, and other district staff officers. 

The members of the Flotilla, including their 
officers, make up the voting body of the 
Flotilla. The Flotilla Commanders, together 
with the Division officers, make up the voting 
body of the Division. In turn, the Division 
Captains, together with the District/Region 
officers, make up the voting body of the 
Districts/Regions. 

The voting body of the National organization 
is made up of the National Commodore, the 
National Vice-Commodore, three National 
Rear Commodores, the District/Region 
Commodores, and a U. S. Coast Guard officer 
of the rank of Captain, assigned as Chief 
Director of Auxiliary by the Commandant. 
There are National staff officers which relate 
to the staff officers on all other levels. 

The principal immediate past officer on each 
level continues as a voting member of that 
body, until such officer is no longer the 
immediate past principal officer of that unit. 

This is the general make-up of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary, for administrative purposes. 
For such administrative purposes, it has been 
well established for a number of years, and in 
practice, is satisfactory. 

However, IT IS THE STRUCTURE of the 
organization, not its administrative units, 


70 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


which gives it uniqueness of character. 

Within the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, it is 
called ’’VERTICAL AND PARALLEL 
STAFFING.” Usually referred to as 
’’STRUCTURE” in larger corporate 
organizations. 

This structure seeks to bind each part of the 
membership together in one cooperative and 
cohesive body, designed to enable all parts of 
the organization to operate together as an 
integrated whole. 

Beginning with the membership, as the base, it 
flows upward to the National body, and to the 
National Commodore, and promotes a 
corresponding returning flow back to the 
membership. 

This is sometime referred to as the ’’CIRCLE 
OF EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE 
SUCCESS.” 

The ’’Vertical staffing”, is the backbone of the 
organization; flowing from the membership 
through the various levels to the National body 
and the National Commodore, and hence 
returning to the membership as a whole. 

’’Parallel Staffing”, on the other hand, is the 
eyes, ears, arms, legs and feet of the 
organization. It is the flow of information and 
cooperation among the officers upon each 
level, both from an executive, as well as an 
administrative, view point. 

As the organization can function more 
efficiently if each officer, on each level, is in 
communication with all other officers on that 


71 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


level, throughout the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, they can share information, 
innovative ideas, and solutions with regard to 
their respective positions. In addition, this 
promotes coordination among the various 
aspects of the many missions and programs of 
the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

This applies not only to the respective elective 
officers, the ’’executives” upon each level, it 
also applies to the appointed staff officers, 
the ’’administrative managers” on each level. 

While this can be charted (see outline in 
appendex) it is the force of the leadership of 
the organization itself, that demands the 
operation of this concept. As in any large 
corporate organization, it operates only 
because of the leadership of the organization, 
on all levels. 

As important as the concept of parallel and 
vertical staffing is, to the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, of more importance is VERTICAL 
AND PARALLEL THINKING. The structure 
provided the means of achieving the very 
necessary flow of communications from and to 
the individual member to and from the elected 
and staff officers, and assures cooperation on 
each level. Vertical and parallel THINKING is 
the incorporation of the organizational 
structure into the day to day operation of the 
organization by the elected and appointed 
officers - the executives and the managers. 
Vertical and Parallel Thinking is vertical and 
parallel staffing IN ACTION; and is that which 
binds the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary together 
as a united, dedicated organization. 
Dedicated to its missions and to the mandate 
embodied within the Act of the Congress 


72 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


which created it, under the overall direction 
of the Commandant of the U. S. Coast Guard. 

Leadership, within the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary is stressed and taught in formal 
courses of study. 

It is interesting to note, that many large profit 
organizations, which have in the past been in a 
failing, or precarious financial position, have 
again become prosperous, because leadership 
realized that this necessary structure, which 
exists from the "production line" to the CEO 
(chief executive officer) was lacking, or 
forgotten, and when reinstated, the corporate 
organization again returned to efficient 
productivity, and profitability. 

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, as 
volunteers, requires this incentive, more than 
those organizations which have profit as a 
motive. It avoids "burn out" of the 

membership, creates enthusiasm, assures that 
the members have current information 
concerning the organization and its programs, 
and puts to work the desire of the members to 
achieve in their volunteer efforts. 

It is this enthusiasm and achievement of its 
members, which attracts other members who, 
like themselves, have both the desire and will 
to serve as volunteers in a worthy endeavor. 
This, plus a common interest in boating, 
private aircraft, radio, and serving in an 
organization created by Congress, as a 
volunteer part of the U. S. Coast Guard, and 
an integral part of the Federal Government, 
which sets the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
apart, not only as an organization, but also its 
members as individuals. 


73 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


Uniforms are as much a part of the 
organization, as its unique character. 

The uniform, patterned after the U. S. Coast 
Guard, except for differences in insignia, 
identifies the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary as a 
part of the U. S. Coast Guard "family" — the 
U. S. Coast Guard, the U. S. Coast Guard 
military reserve, and the U. S. Coast Guard 
civilian reserve -- the Auxiliary. 

The wearing of uniforms, under certain 
circumstances is encouraged, and is required 
when performing many U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary activities. 

Thus, although thought of as a civilian, 
paramilitary, organization, it has the 
attributes of an efficient, well organized, 
large corporate structure. 

The CEO (chief executive officer) is the 
National Commodore. The National Vice 
Commodore is the Chief Operating Officer, 
responsible for the function of all of the 
operational staff officers. Those National 
staff officers, whose duties are primarily 
administrative, report to the National 
Commodore. This same concept is adapted to 
each level. 

The three National Rear Commodores are 
"regional vice presidents." Each has the 
responsibility for programs and operation in 
each’s respective area. The organization is 
divided into three areas — Eastern, Central, 
and Western. 

The functions of the National, and other staff 
officers are assisted, as necessary, by 


74 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


additional staff officers under the direction of 
the primary staff officer. 

It should be noted that the U. S. Coast Guard 
Auxiliary, is aware that there are civilian 
boating organizations which contribute to safe 
boating in a meaningful manner, and that the 
Civil Air Patrol contributes to searches in the 
area of marine safety. However, it is the fact 
that the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is an 
instrumentality of the Federal Government, 
that sets it apart as an unique organization. 

Thus, we began with "THE VOLUNTEERS", 
and we end with a well tuned structure, all 
operated by unpaid, dedicated members. "THE 
VOLUNTEERS" run a well functioning 
organization, a tight ship, which is safe, sound, 
and seaworthy. Always ready for another 
voyage! SEMPER PARATUS is the motto of 
the U. S. Coast Guard, and it most certainly 
applies to the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 
members of the U. S. Coast Guard family. 
Always Prepared! 


75 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


76 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


EPILOGUE 


The future of the U. S. Coast Guard is bright. 
Much remains to be done. The quickly growing 
boating population and the demand for 
services from the boating public will continue 
to increase. 

Continued Boating Education for the boating 
public, the Courtesy Marine Examination 
Program, the Patrols, and the need for Search 
and Rescue will continue to be in demand, as 
will the other programs of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary. 

As the facilities and personnel of the U. S. 
Coast Guard are stretched even thinner, the 
need for the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and 
its Volunteers will increase. 

In words that have been used many times 
before: 

"To the future Leadership of the U. S. Coast 
Guard Auxiliary: All those thousands of 
members of the past, who have contributed so 
greatly to this organization of VOLUNTEERS, 
have delivered to you the torch, flaming 
brightly with the accomplishments of those 
men and women, who gave of their time, 
talent, means, and yes, even their lives, to 
bring the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary from 
its beginnings in 1939, through those years of 
war and peace, to what it is today, and what it 
can become in the future. 


77 


THE VOLUNTEERS 


Chapter Five 


"Keep its light burning brightly. Lead this 
unique organization to greater heights in the 
future. With inspiration and dedication to the 
original, and still existing, mandate of the U. 
S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and in remembrance 
of the efforts and cheerful sacrifices of the 
thousands of members down through the years, 
the duties and responsibilities of future 
Leadership is clear, and it calls out to you 
from the past!” 


78 


APPENDIX 




















I 










Ill 



























































Sri. 


5SG& 


[Report No. SS2] 


AN ACT 

To ostablish a Coast Guard Reserve to be com¬ 
posed of owners of motorboats and yachts. 


May 16 (legislative day, May S), 1939 
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce 
Jvnk 7 (legislative day, June 5J, 1939 
Reported without amendment 






[CHAPTER 243] 


AN ACT 


To establish a Coast Guard Reserve to be composed of owners of motorboats and 

yachts. 


Be it emoted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled , That this Act may 
be cited as the “Coast Guard Reserve Act of 1939”. 

Seo. 2. In the interest of (a) safety to life at sea and upon the 
navigable waters, (b) the promotion of efficiency in the operation of 
motorboats and yachts, and (c) a wider knowledge of, and better 
compliance with, the laws, rules, and regulations governing the 
operation and navigation or motorboats ana yachts, and (d) facili¬ 
tating certain operations of the Coast Guard, there is hereby 
established a United States Coast Guard Reserve (hereinafter 
referred to as the ‘^Reserve”) which shall be composed of citizens 
of the United States and of its Territories and possessions, except the 
Philippine Islands, who are owners (sole or part) of motorboats or 
yachts, and who may be enrolled therein pursuant to regulations 
prescribed under the authority of this Act. 

Seo. 3. The Reserve shall be a voluntary organization and shall be 
administered by the Commandant of the Coast Guard (hereinafter 
referred to as the “Commandant”) under the direction ox the Secre¬ 
tary of the Treasury, and the Commandant shall, with the approval 
of the Secretary of tne Treasury, prescribe such regulations as may 
be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act. 

Seo. A The Coast Guard is authorized to utilize in the conduct 
of duties incident to the saving of life and property and in the 
patrol of marine parades and regattas any motorboat or yacht 
temporarily placed at its disposition for any of such purposes by 
any member of the Reserve: Provided That no such motorboat or 
yacht shall be assigned to any such Coast Guard duty unless it is 
placed in charge of a commissioned officer, chief warrant officer, 
warrant officer, or petty officer of the Coast Guard during such 
assignment: Provided further, That appropriations for the Coast 
Guard shall be available for the payment of actual necessary expenses 
of operation of any such motorboat or yacht when so utilized, but 
shall not be available for the payment of compensation for personal 
services, incident to such operation, to other than the personnel of 
the regular Coast Guard. 

Seo. 5. Any motorboat or yacht, while assigned to Coast Guard 
duty as herein authorized, shall be deemed to De a public vessel of 
the United States, and, within the meaning of the Act of June 15, 
1936 (49 Stat 1514; U. S. C., Supp. IV, title 14, sec. 71), shall be 
deemed to be a vessel of the United States Coast Guard. 

Seo. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe one or more 
suitable distinguishing flags to be flown from the motorboats and 
yachts owned by members of the Reserve, and one or more suitable 
insignias which may be worn by such members. Such flags and 
insigmas shall be furnished by the Coast Guard to members of the 
Reserve at actual cost, and the proceeds received therefor shall be 
credited to the appropriation from which paid. Any person who 
shall, without proper authority, fly from a motorboat, yacht, or 
other vessel, any nag of the Reserve, or wear any insignia of the 
Reserve, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not 
exceedin'! $100. 


VI 



Sec. 7. No member of the Reserve, solely by reason of such 
membership, shall be vested with or exercise any right, privilege, 
power, or duty vested in or imposed upon the personnel of the Coast 
Guard. 

Sec. 8. The services and facilities of the Coast Guard may be 
employed in the administration and operation of the Reserve; and 
the appropriations for the Coast Guard shall be available to effectuate 
the purposes of this Act. 

Approved, June 23, 1939. 


Amendment June 6, 1940 


Sec. & section 4 of the Coast Guard Reserve Act of 1939 
approved June 23, 1939 (53 Stat. 855; U. S. C., 1934 edition, Supp! 
V. title 14, sec. 254), is hereby amended to read as follows: 

“Sec. 4. The Coast Guard is authorized to utilize in the conduct 
of duties incident to the saving of life and property, or in the patrol 
of marine parades and regattas, any motorboat or yacht temporarily 
placed at its disposition for any of such purposes by any member 
of the Reserve: Provided, That no such motorboat or yacht shall 
be assigned to any such Coast Guard duty unless it is placed in 
charge of a commissioned officer, chief warrant officer, warrant 
officer, or petty officer of the Coast Guard during such assignment: 
Provided further , That appropriations for the Coast Guard shall be 
available for the payment of actual necessary expenses of operation 
of any such motorboat or yacht when so utilized, but shall not be 
available for the payment of compensation for personal services, 
incident to such operation, to other than the personnel of the regular 
Coast Guard. The term ‘actual necessary expenses of operation’, 
as used herein, shall include fuel, oil, water, supplies, provisions, 
and any replacement or repair of equipment or any repair of the 
motorboat or yacht where, upon investigation by a board of not 
less than three commissioned officers of the Coast Guard ? it is deter¬ 
mined that responsibility for the loss or damage necessitating such 
replacement or repair of equipment or such repair of the motorboat 
or yacht rests with the Coast Guard.” 

Sbo. 9. The Coast Guard Reserve Act of 1939, approved June 
23, 1939 (53 Stat 854; U. S. C., 1934 edition, Supp. V, title 14, sec. 
251), and the following is hereby further amended by adding at the 
end thereof a new section as follows: 

w Seo. 9. Pursuant to such rules and regulations as the Com¬ 
mandant may prescribe, correspondence courses of the Coast Guard 
Institute may be made available to members of the Reserve: 
Provided, , That the actual cost of the study materials for each 
such couree shall be paid by the member of the Reserve taking such 
course and the proper Coast Guard appropriation shall be credited 
accordingly.” 


VII 


PUBLIC LAWS—CH. S—FEB. 19, 19-11 


L'o Stat. 


[CHAPTER 8] 

AN ACT 

To provide for the establishment, administration, and maintenance of a Coast 
Guard Auxiliary and a Coast Guard Reserve. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Uouee of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled , That this Act may 
he cited as the “Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act of 1941”. 

TITLE I—REPEAL OF COAST GUARD RESERVE ACT OF 

1939, AS AMENDED, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF COAST 
GUARD AUXILIARY 

Sr.c. 1. The Coast Guard Reserve Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 854; 
U. S. C., Supp. V, title 14, ch. 9), as amended by Public Law Num¬ 
bered 504. Seventy-sixth Congress, third session, is hereby repealed 
and in lieu of the United States Coast Guard Reserve provided for 
in such Act there is hereby created and established a United States 
Coast Guard Auxiliary (hereinafter referred to as the “Auxiliary”). 

Sec. 2. It is hereby declared to be the purposes of the Auxiliary 
(a) to further interest in safety of life at sea and upon the navigable 
waters, (b) to promote efficiency in the operation of motorboats and 
yachts, (c) to foster a wider knowledge of, and better compliance 
v iilj. the laws, rules, and regulations governing the operation of 
motorboats and yachts, and (d) to facilitate operations of the Coast 
Guard. 

^ Sr.c. 3. The Auxiliary shall be composed of citizens of the United 
Mates and of its Territories and possessions, except the Philippine 

Islands, who are owners (solo or part) of motorboats or yachts, and 
who may be enrolled therein pursuant to regulations prescribed under 
the authority of this Act. 

Sec. 4. The Auxiliary shall be a nonmilitary organization admin¬ 
istered by the Commandant of the Coast Guard (hereinafter referred 
to as the “Commandant”) under the direction of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, and the Commandant shall, with the approval of the Secre¬ 
tary of the Treasury, prescribe such regulations as may be necessary 
to effectuate the purposes of this title. 

Sec. 5. Subject to regulations prescribed under the authority of 
this Act, members of the Auxiliary may also be enrolled in the Coast 
Guard Reserve established by title II of this Act, and membership 
in the Auxiliary shall not be a bar to membership in any other naval 
or military organization. 

Sec. 6. The Coast Guard is authorized to utilize in the conduct of 
duties incident to the saving of life and property, in the patrol of 
marine parades and regattas, or for any other purpose incident to 
the carrying out of the functions and duties of the Coast Guard 
which may be authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, any 
motorboat or yacht placed at its disposition for any of such purposes 
by any member of tne Auxiliary. No such motorboat or yacht shall 
be assigned to Coast Guard duty unless it is placed in charge of a 
commissioned officer, chief warrant officer, warrant officer, or petty 
officer of the Coast Guard or the Coast Guard Reserve established 
by title II of this Act during such assignment. 


VIII 



Sec. 7. Any motorboat or yacht, while assigned to Coast Guard 
duty as herein authorized, shall be deemed to be a public vessel of 
the United States, and within the meaning of the Act of June 15. 
1936 (49 Stat. 1514; U. S. C., Supp. V. title 14, sec. 71), shall be 
deemed to be a vessel of the United States Coast Guard. 

Sec. 8 . Appropriations of the Coast Guard shall be available for 
the payment of actual necessary expenses of operation of any such 
motorboat or yacht when so utilized, but shall not be available for 
the payment of compensation for personal services, incident to such 
operation, to other than personnel of the regular Coast Guard or 
the Coast Guard Reserve established by title II of this Act. The 
term “actual necessary expenses of operation”, as used herein, shall 
include fuel, oil, water, supplies, provisions, and any replacement 
or repair of equipment or any repair of the motorboat or yacht 
where, upon investigation by a board of not less than three commis¬ 
sioned officers of the regular Coast Guard, it is determined that 
responsibilitv for the loss or damage necessitating such replacement 
or repair of equipment or such repair of the motorboat or yacht 
rests with the Coast Guard. 

Sec. 9. No member of the Auxiliary, solely by reason of such mem¬ 
bership, shall be vested with or exercise any right, privilege, power, 
or duty vested in or imposed upon the personnel of the Coast. Guard, 
except that any such member may, under such regulations as the 
Commandant shall prescribe, act in an advisory capacity to the Com¬ 
mandant in the administration of the Auxiliary. Any member per¬ 
forming such service shall, upon authorization by the' Commandant, 
be entitled to actual expenses of travel and to a per diem allowance 
not exceeding $5 per day while performing such travel from and to 
liis home ancl while engaged upon such service. 

Sec. 10. All orders, rules, regulations, enrollments, privileges, or 
other benefits made, issued, or granted pursuant to the Coast Guard 
Reserve Act of 1930, as amended, and in effect on the date of the 
enactment of this Act. shall be applicable to the Coast Guard Aux¬ 
iliary and shall continue in effect hereunder until modified or revoked 
in accordance with the provisions of this Act. 


IX 






PART II—COAST GUARD RESERVE AND 


AUXILIARY 

Copter Sec. 

21. Coast Guard Reserve . 751 

23. Coast Guard Auxiliary_........____ _ 821 

25. General Provisions for Coast Guard Reserve and Auxiliary__891 


§ 821 . Administration 

The Coast Guard Auxiliary established on February 19, 1941, is a 
nonmilitary organization administered by the Commandant under 
the direction of the Secreif.ry. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 665. 

§ 822 . Purpose 

The purpose of the Auxiliary is to assist the Coast Guard: 

(a) to promote safety and to effect rescues on and over the 
high seas and on navigable waters; 

(b) to promote efficiency in the operation of motorboats and 
yachts; 

(c) to foster a wider knowledge of, and better compliance 
with, the laws, rules, and regulations governing the operation 
of motorboats and yachts; and 

(d) to facilitate other operations of the Coast Guard. Aug. 4, 
1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 655. 


§ 823 . Eligibility, enrollments 

The Auxiliary shall be composed of citizens of the United States 
and its territories and possessions, who are owners, sole or part, of 
motorboats, yachts, aircraft, or radio stations or who by reason of 
their special training or experience are deemed by the Commandant 
to be qualified for duty in the Auxiliary, and who may be enrolled 
therein pursuant to applicable regulations. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 
63 Stat. 555. 

§ 824 . Disenrollment 

Members of the Auxiliary may be disenrolled pursuant to applica¬ 
ble regulations. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 565. 


§ 825 . Membership in other organizations 
Members of the Auxiliary may be appointed or enlisted in the 
Reserve, pursuant to applicable regulations, and membership in the 
Auxiliary shall not be a bar to membership in any other naval or 
military organization. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 555. 


XI 





§ 826. Us© of member’s facilities 

The Coast Guard may utilize for any purpose incident to carrying 
out its functions and duties as authorized by the Secretary any mo¬ 
torboat, yacht, aircraft, or radio station placed at its disposition for 
any of such purposes by any member of the Auxiliary, by any cor¬ 
poration, partnership, or association, or by any State or political sub¬ 
division thereof. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 666; Aug. 3, 
1960, c. 636, § 35, 64 Stat. 408. 

§ 827. Vessel deemed public vessel 

Any motorboat or yacht, while assigned to authorized Coast Guard 
duty shall be deemed to be a public vessel of the United States, and 
within the meaning of section 646 of this title shall be deemed to be 
a vessel of the Coast Guard. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 565. 

§ 828. Alrcrait deemed public aircraft 

Any aircraft, while assigned to authorized Coast Guard duty shall 
be deemed to be a vessel of the Coast Guard within the meaning of 
section 646 of this title. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat 556. 

§ 829. Radio station deemed government station 

Any radio station, while assigned to authorized Coast Guard duty 
shall be deemed to be a radio station of the Coast Guard and a “gov¬ 
ernment station” within the meaning of chapter 5 of Title 47. Aug. 
4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 556. 

§ 830. Availability of appropriations 

Appropriations of the Coast Guard shall be available for the pay¬ 
ment of actual necessary traveling expense and subsistence, or com¬ 
mutation of ration allowance in lieu of subsistence, of members of 
the Auxiliary assigned to authorized specific duties and for actual 
necessary expenses of operation of any motorboat, yacht, aircraft, or 
radio station when assigned to Coast Guard duty, but shall not be 
available for the payment of compensation for personal services, in¬ 
cident to such operation, other than to personnel of the Coast Guard 
or the Reserve. The term “actual necessary expenses of operation,” 
as used in this section, shall include payment for fuel, oil, power, 
water, supplies, provisions, replacement or repair of equipment, re¬ 
pair of any damaged motorboat, yacht, aircraft, or radio station and 
for the constructive or actual loss of any motorboat, yacht, aircraft, 
or radio station where it is determined, under applicable regulations, 
that responsibility for the loss or damage necessitating such re¬ 
placement or repair of equipment, or for the damage or loss, con¬ 
structive or actual, of such motorboat, yacht, aircraft, or radio sta¬ 
tion rests with the Coast Guard. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 
656. 


XII 


§ 831. Assignment and performance of duties 

No member of the Auxiliary, solely by'reason of such membership, 
shall be vested with, or exercise, any right, privilege, power, or duty 
vested in or imposed upon the personnel of the Coast Guard or the 
Reserve, except that any such member may, under applicable regu¬ 
lations, be assigned specific duties, which, after appropriate training 
and examination, he has been found competent to perform, to effec¬ 
tuate the purposes of the Auxiliary. No member of the Auxiliary 
shall be placed in charge of a motorboat, yacht, aircraft, or radio 
station assigned to Coast Guard duty unless he has been specifically 
designated by authority of the Commandant to perform such duty. 
Members of the Auxiliary, when assigned to specific duties as herein 
authorized shall, unless otherwise limited by the Commandant, be 
vested with the same power and authority, in the execution of such 
duties, as members of the regular Coast Guard assigned to similar 
duty. When any member of the Auxiliary is assigned to such duty 
he may, pursuant to regulations issued by the Secretary, be paid ac¬ 
tual necessary traveling expenses, including a per diem allowance in 
conformity with standardized Government travel regulations in lieu 
of subsistence, while traveling and while on duty away from his 
home. No per diem shall be paid for any period during which quar¬ 
ters and subsistence in kind are furnished by the Government, and 
no per diem shall be paid for any period while such member is per¬ 
forming duty on a vessel. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 556. 


14 § 832 

§ 832. Ii\jury or death in line of duty 

When any member of the Auxiliary is physically injured or dies as a result of 
physical injury incurred while performing any specific duty to which he has been 
assigned by competent Coast Guard authority, such member or his beneficiary shall 
be entitled to the same benefits provided for temporary members of the Reserve who 
suffer physical injury or death resulting from physical injury incurred incident to 
service. Members of the Auxiliary who incur physical injury or contract sickness or 
disease while performing any specific duty to which they have been assigned by 
competent Coast Guard authority shall be entitled to the same hospital treatment 
afforded members of the Coast Guard. The performance of a specific duty as the 
term is used in this section includes time engaged in traveling back and forth 
between the place of assigned duty and the permanent residence of a member of the 
Auxiliary. 

(As amended May 14, 1974, Pub.L 93-283,, § 1(15), 88 Stat 141; Oct 30, 1984, Pub.L. 98-557, 
§ 15(aX3)(D), 98 Stat 2865.) 


XIII 


CHAPTER 25—GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR COAST 
GUARD RESERVE AND AUXILIARY 

Sec. 

891. Flags; pennants; uniforms and insignia. 

892. Penalty. 

893. Limitation on rights of members of the Auxiliary and tempo¬ 

rary members of the-Reserve. 

894. Availability of facilities and appropriations. 

§ 891. Flags; pennants; uniforms and insignia 

The Secretary may prescribe one or more suitable distinguishing 
flags, pennants, or other identifying insignia to be displayed by the 
motorboats, yachts, aircraft, and radio stations owned by members 
of the Auxiliary and one or more suitable insignia which may be 
worn by members of the Reserve or the Auxiliary, and may prescribe 
one or more suitable uniforms which may be worn by members of the 
Auxiliary. Such flags, pennants, uniforms, and insignia may be 
furnished by the Coast Guard at actual cost, and the proceeds re¬ 
ceived therefor shall be credited to current appropriations from 
which purchase of these articles is authorized. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, 
§ 1, 63 Stat. 557. 

§ 892. Penalty 

Whoever, without proper authority, flies from any building, air¬ 
craft, motorboat, yacht, or other vessel, any flag or pennant or dis¬ 
plays any identifying insignia or wears any uniform or insignia of 
the Reserve or the Auxiliary shall be fined not more than $500. Aug. 
4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 557. 

§ 893. Limitation on rights of members of the Auxiliary 
and temporary members of the Reserve 

Members of the Auxiliary and temporary members of the Reserve 
shall be entitled only to such rights, privileges, and benefits as are 
specifically set forth for them in this title or as may be specifically 
provided for them in any other Act of Congress. Any Act of Con¬ 
gress which grants rights, privileges, or benefits generally to mili¬ 
tary personnel, or among others, to personnel of the Coast Guard 
and the Coast Guard Reserve, without specifically granting such 
rights, privileges, or benefits to members of the Auxiliary or tempo¬ 
rary members of the Reserve, shall not be deemed applicable to 
members .of the Auxiliary or to temporary members of the Reserve. 
Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 557. 

§ 894. Availability of facilities and appropriations 
The services and facilities of and appropriations for the Coast 
Guard shall be available to effectuate the purposes of the Reserve 
and the Auxiliary. Aug. 4, 1949, c. 393, § 1, 63 Stat. 557. 


XIV 


PAST NATIONAL COMMODORES 




PNACO Alexander S. Bauer 
1953 - 1954 



PNACO J. Webb L. Sheehy 
1955 



PNACO John Brent Tanner 
1956 - 1957 



PNACO Charles S. Greanoff 
1958 - 1959 



PNACO Bliss Woodward 
1960 - 1961 


XV 








PAST NATIONAL COMMODORES 



PNACO Homer L. Byers 
1962 - 1963 



PNACO Ellsworth A. Weinberg 
1964 - 1966 



PNACO Grover A. Miller, Jr. 
1967 - 1968 



PNACO John B. Stone 
1969 - 1970 



PNACO Harry S. Osbourn 
1971 - 1972 



PNACO Harold B. Haney 
1973 - 1974 


XVI 






PAST NATIONAL COMMODORES 



PNACO Anderson A. Cordill 
1975 - 1976 



PNACO J. Kevin Mitchell 
1977 - 1978 



PNACO Aime R. Bernard 
1981 - 1982 



PNACO Martin S. Herz 
1983 - 1984 



PNACO Dr. Robert L. Horton 
1979 - 1980 


NIPCO Chris C. Lagen 
1985 - 1986 


XVII 


















26 5 92 







































































4 + ^ <#* / 

% °o ^ % *+ ,0* ,•-•• % > 

^** •''’^nK** ^* 0< ’o/ ‘ 

•• .0° t* ^ \ .0° tf. 

, -v' y .— : . « 

HECKMAN |±| .'££;&\\ %, <V :/ 



m MAY 92 


r - \.a 









